False: “Gender violence is a big lie. […] it’s like denying day or night”.

Javier Ortega-Smith, the Secretary-General of the Spanish far-right-wing party, Vox called gender violence a ‘big lie’ after the celebration of the new judicial year in the Community of Madrid, in September 9th of 2019. There was a significant emphasis on gender violence  in that celebration and this made him state that ‘violence is violence and …

fact checking

Mostly false: French women are using code word “mask-19″at pharmacies to escape domestic violence during lockdown

Domestic violence cases have jumped by 30 per cent during lockdown in France. Being confined at home with abusive partners increases the risk to victims. A TV report on Channel One Russia, covering the situation in France, included the claim that using code word “mask-19” is a common practice among French women to let people…

Mostly True: “If universities shift online, we risk more poorer students dropping out.”

In a column published by The Guardian, former universities minister Chris Skidmore makes the claim that there’s a higher risk for poorer students dropping out if universities shift online. This article—based on a study from 2017—was posted 4 May, 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis forcing many universities to close and offer fully…

Mostly true: Economist claims that the VW-scandal wouldn’t have happened if women were in charge

Monika Schnitzer, a German Professor of Economics  at Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, stated in an interview with the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung on May 5th: “My assumption is that the manipulation of the diesel engines and this fraud on the customer wouldn’t have happened if women have had a say in the top-level management.”. She also claims…

fact-check uncheckable

Uncheckable: Despite seven warnings, the City Hall of Bucharest did nothing about air pollution during the state of emergency

On April 30, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) published a Decision on Romania’s condemnation for non-compliance with Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on air quality and cleaner air for Europe. Romania has been tried for failing to meet its obligations regarding air quality and for systematically…

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Uncheckable: Religious and political leaders claim that same-sex marriage is the reason for corona

Worldwide many influential religious and political leaders are linking the coronavirus to the legislation of same-sex marriage. They claim that the outbreak of the pandemic is the punishment and reckoning of God. These statements are uncheckable by nature, but to show how widespread this kind of misinformation is, EUfactcheck gives an overview of the different…

fact checking

Mostly false: “Approximately 250,000 Romanian pupils do not have access to technology”

On May 3, 2020, Monica Anisie, the Romanian Minister of Education and Research, claimed in a TV interview at Digi24 that approximately 250,000 pre-university Romanian students do not have access to technology, and as a result, they are not able to attend the online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine. This statement is mostly false,…