On April 30, Marcel Ciolacu, the interim president of the Social Democratic Party, the main opposition party in Romania, stated on his Facebook page: “[…] The maximum level of fines in Romania is the highest in Europe, 6 times the average net salary, and the total sanctions applied reach 570 million lei […].”
During a debate that questioned a lack of medical supplies the then party leader of 50PLUS, Henk Krol, stated: “How is it possible that Austria distributes masks at supermarkets and in public transport, and the Netherlands do not even have enough for their health care staff?” He asked this question to the Dutch Prime Minister…
On the 20th of May, Matteo Salvini, leader of the Italian Far Right party “The league”, rejected the proposal for a post-Covid EU grant-based recovery plan, outlined by the French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and unveiled in a surprising press conference on the 18th of May. A statement issued on…
Bob Van Hee, professor emeritus in medical history of the University of Antwerp made a statement in an interview on the website of Flemish public broadcaster VRT that made some people frown: ‘History seems to be repeating itself: in the Middle Ages, the Plague also entered Europe via Italy, just as COVID-19’. The claim turns…
“We have tripled the testing capacity of potential coronavirus patients! If a few days ago we could make 600 tests per day on average, today we can test approximately 1700 patients.” This claim by Romania’s vice prime minister Raluca Turan turns out to be mostly false.
The President of European Parliament David Sassoli claims on Twitter that the old European Stability Mechanism (ESM) doesn’t exist anymore and it has become a fund that all member countries can take advantage of without conditionalities, to cope with medical emergency caused by Covid-19 pandemic. The claim seems to be his remark following the Eurogroup…
It’s a time of crisis. The outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is gripping the world. At the moment we still know very little about this virus, which lives under several names. One thing we all hope is that the virus will disappear as quickly as it has spread around the world. According to Dutch politician…
Geert Bourgeois, a representative of Flemish nationalist party N-VA in the European Parliament, claims in Flemish newspaper De Standaard (25.01.2020, paywall) that for every billion euros of exports, we create 14.000 new jobs in Europe. This statement comes in response to the trade agreement concluded with Vietnam in 2019. These figures turn out to be…
Belgium frequently uses Frontex funds to send back refugees. But how frequently exactly? According to Belgian Minister of Asylum and Migration Maggie De Block (Open VLD, Flemish liberal party), one in three of all refugees who returned via Frontex last year were from Belgium. But that happens to be not completely correct. Frontex, also known…
The Prime Minister of Croatia, Mr Andrej Plenković, who was a member of the European Parliament, proudly states that Croatia and its citizens are progressing and that the situation in the country is not as bleak as it seems. His claim turns out to be mostly false. Croatia has assumed presidency of the Council of…