Latest posts
Sunday roasts are not on EU menu
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Number of View: 9The Sunday Express would have its readers believe there has been a seismic land movement on the Continent. On Sunday they reported the price of Britain’s traditional Sunday roast could rise as a result of &...
Sun calls us “Euro VAT prats” – but trims the facts
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Number of View: 59The Sun on Sunday likes to print an anti-EU story most weeks. This week it has picked up on the European Commission’s proposed economic policy recommendations for the UK, issued on 29 May – so not exactly breaking n...
Media reporting on vacuum cleaners – don’t get sucked in!
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Number of View: 31 Over the past week there have been various reports about how EU energy saving regulations might affect future vacuum cleaners. We would like to put a few issues straight. Less power does not mean less performance. The aim is t...
Here – again – the real facts on migration and the rights to claim benefits in the EU
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Number of View: 85Reports in the media that the European Commission is forcing the UK Government to hand welfare benefits to EU immigrants as soon as they arrive in the UK are wrong. We made the point several months ago on this blog – February...
Not true that UK is under pressure from EU to cull badgers
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Number of View: 22Contrary to the headline in the online edition of The Times - ”EU could reinstate British cattle export ban” (22 May 2013) - how the UK combats bovine TB in badgers is a matter for the UK. Different m...
Sun publishes Andor letter on migration
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Number of View: 29On 9 May – Europe Day, fittingly – the Sun published this letter from Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Commissioner, László Andor, referring to this article. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/new...
Murky claims about EU bathing water policy
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Number of View: 55Following an article published in The Telegraph, “Beaches to be blacklisted for swimming under new EU rules“ We would like to make it crystal clear that the EU does not “blacklist” beaches and EU laws do...
Daily Mail scare story on Europol rebutted – but Mail removes important points from our letter
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Number of View: 137The Commission recently proposed limited changes to the way the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol works. The aim is to tackle cross-border crime – for example drug dealing and human trafficking – better. Many wo...
EC response to false UK press claims that it is seeking “powers over journalists”
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Number of View: 8Claims in the Sunday Telegraph on 14 April that the EU is “pouring millions into groups seeking state control of the press” and “seeking new national and Europe-wide regulatory powers over journalists”, are hi...
Genetics breakthrough on cancer risk makes the headlines but the EU doesn’t
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Number of View: 22Despite the extensive coverage in the British media on research into the study of genomes and the risks of developing cancer – funded by Cancer Research UK and the Wellcome Trust – the absence of any reference to EU...
Express makes baseless claim that EU aims to “seize control” of UK justice system
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Number of View: 79The Daily Express’s assertion that the EU is, through the European Commission’s new Justice Scoreboard, moving “to seize control of our justice system” can be laughed out of court. The Justice Scoreboard foc...
Getting out of a jam over EU sugar content rules
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Number of View: 7The sticky combination of the EU and jam has hit the headlines again with press reports announcing British jam manufacturer, Clippy McKenna, had won her fight against Brussels’ red tape to be able to market her produce as...
The European Commission is not trying to “force” Britain to hold elections on Sundays
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Number of View: 510Stories in the Telegraph and Mail among others are not correct. The UK cannot be “forced” to hold the 2014 European elections on Sundays. The European Commission has issued a non-binding recommendation that Member State...
The Sun goes bananas for an anti-EU story
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Number of View: 309On Monday 18 February, the Sun published this article which it chose not to include on its website. It provides an interesting and not untypical case study in the way certain media – and far from only the Sun &ndas...
Getting the facts straight: EU rights to reside in another member state, EU benefit claimants and NHS treatment entitlement
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Number of View: 16There are two myths in particular that recur time and time again. First, it is a myth that EU law gives all EU citizens an unconditional right to reside freely in another Member State. In reality, this right is subject to important...
£3billion for bananas
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Number of View: 19“The Sun” asked for a comment why the EU needs to support outermost regions like the Azores and the Canaries, but they chose not to print it. So for the benefit of those interested in why we fund banana growers, we...
Fishing for the facts?
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Number of View: 67Ahead of a vote in the European Parliament on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy – which if adopted by MEPs and EU ministers will lead to improved fish stocks, better incomes for fishermen and more jobs in the industry,...
No smoking gun: “Brussels” not proposing to reinstate tobacco subsidies.”
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Number of View: 226Despite alarmist stories in the Sunday Telegraph no EU institution has proposed to reinstate tobacco subsidies. EU law is proposed by the European Commission. It did NOT propose to reinstate subsidies in its proposals to reform the...
The European Commission does NOT want to sack journalists or control media regulators
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Number of View: 29The report on media pluralism by four independent experts, published on 21 January, is a report submitted TO the European Commission. It is not a report BY the European Commission. The Commission has made no proposals to implement i...
Half-truths over euro booklets
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Number of View: 21According to The Sun (“Anger at schools’ pro-euro booklets, 4 January 2013), the capital of Belgium is accused once again of “brainwashing” kids (that’s children, not juvenile goats) by sending glossy brochures to schools...
