Mostly true: “29 March deadline for submitting applications to participate in the 2019 European Parliament elections for Greek citizens who have their residence in other EU countries”

Our report on the EU Fact Check focuses on a news item which was published on Friday, March 29, 2019, on the website of the newspaper “Avgi”. More specifically, the news item was titled “The deadline for submitting applications to participate in the European elections for Greek citizens who live in another EU country expires…

Mostly true: “Two thirds of European laws are part of Croatian legislation”

In a statement for one regional TV channel, a current Croatian representative in the European Parliament and a candidate in the upcoming European elections Mrs Biljana Borzan, said that two thirds of laws that are voted for in the European Parliament are being implemented in the Croatian legislation. The statement raised the question what the…

Mostly true: “A quarter of Turkish judges have been sacked”

On 28 February, MEP and Turkey-rapporteur Kati Piri, mentioned several human rights issues and pleaded not to grant Turkey EU-membership. In the popular Dutch talkshow Jinek she said that a quarter of all Turkish judges have been discharged already. In her capacity as rapporteur Piri investigates if Turkey meets the preconditions for EU-membership and if…

Mostly true: “Huge crowd of 3,000 supporters of the Golden Dawn party gathers for the announcement of its European Parliament ticket”

On March 26, 2019, the news website www.pronews.gr posted a publication entitled “ “Huge Crowd of 3,000 supporters of the Golden Dawn  party  gathers for the announcement  its European Parliament ticket “, according to which the far-right party a day earlier organized a gathering for the announcement of its candidate MEPs. The event, as reported…

Mostly true: “Decline in insect populations is a big environmental risk that should be studied more, also in Finland.”

On 12 February 2019 the Finnish Member of Parliament and candidate in the European elections, Ville Niinistö, tweeted that decline in insect populations form a large environmental risk. An additional tweet linked to an article published by the Finnish national broadcasting company YLE concerning the subject. Niinistö also claimed that the presumed decline should be…

Mostly true: “An active Croatian judge can participate in the upcoming European Elections”

In a television interview one Croatian Commercial Court judge Mislav Kolakušić announced his plans to stand as a candidate in the upcoming European Elections. The statement raised the question whether Kolakušić, being an active judge, has the right to do so. We examined national and EU laws and regulations on political participation of judges which…

Mostly true: „Between 25.000 to 30.000 lobbyists“ are working in Brussels

In an article on the Viennese online news portal, www.vienna.at, Julia Herr, Austrian Social Democratic Party candidate for the European parliament election, was recently quoted, that there were supposedly „between 25.000 to 30.000 lobbyists“ working in Brussels. According to the article, Herr had made this claim on March 5th, 2019 during a discussion on the…