True: “Number of asylum applications declined notably in February”

On March 7, 2024 the German news program “Tagesschau” released an article about the current number of asylum applications, revealing a notable decline in first-time applications for asylum in February. This claim is true. The article states that the number of first-time applications for asylum have decreased in comparison to last year. There were 19.494…

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Mostly false: “The euro was supposed to be as stable as the D-Mark, but it is as stable as the Turkish lira”

On May 3, 2024, German right-wing populist politician Maximilian Krah, who was the AfD’s lead candidate for the 2024 European elections, claimed on Tiktok that the European Central Bank was destroying people’s savings and that, although it was promised that the euro would be as stable as the German Mark, it was as stable as…

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True: “Construction is responsible for producing 35% of all waste in the EU.”

On April 10, 2024, the Belgian political party ‘Groen’ published an article on their website claiming that 35% of all waste in the European Union originates from the construction sector. The claim turns out to be true. The party published this article following the passage of a new law in the European Parliament. According to…

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Mostly False: “The party AfD stands for prosperity, for family, for people, and for peace”

Maximilian Krah used to be the AfD’s lead candidate for the European elections on June 9th. He initially was elected a year ago at an AfD party conference in Magdeburg. There, he gave “Die Welt” an interview in which he said, “There is a German party that stands for prosperity, for family, for people, and…

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Mostly true: “180,000 tonnes of plastic pellets lost into the European environment yearly”

They are small, but far from harmless when they end up in the environment. Member of the European Parliament Grace O’Sullivan (The Greens/ EFA) said that 180,000 tonnes of the granules used to produce plastic products get lost in the value chain, harming the biosphere. EUfactcheck discovered that a rather high estimate was chosen from…

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Mostly True: “A Dexit would mean a loss of prosperity of 400 to 500 billion euros per year”

In view of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen had clear words on the German AfD’s plans to leave the European Union. During a speech at the CDU federal party conference on May 8, 2024, von der Leyen said about the right-wing populist party:…

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FALSE: “Barcelona has become the city with the highest crime rate in Spain and is an example of the failure of multiculturalism”

Jorge Buxadé, one of the leaders and the spokesperson of the extreme right-wing Spanish party Vox, claimed that “Barcelona has become the city with the highest crime rate in Spain and is an example of the failure of multiculturalism”. EUfactcheck looked into this claim and the source it was based on, and found out that…

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Uncheckable: “The AfD are the arsonists who are planning to deport our neighbors”

At the start of the European election campaign the leading politician of the Left Party Carola Rackete gave a speech in Berlin. Among other things she accuses the party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) of the following: “The AfD is threatening to set fire to our democracy: They are the arsonists who are planning to deport…

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Mostly False: Great Britain deports illegal immigrants to their home country

At the start of the 2024 European election campaign, German politician Marc Jongen is running for the right-wing populist party AfD. In his campaign speech, he said that the illegal entry of migrants must be stopped in Germany and that migrants who have already entered the country must be returned to their home countries. He…

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True (but requires context): Finland faces the highest costs under EU’s environmental restoration law relative to its economy

Kai Mykkänen, Minister of Climate and the Environment (The National Coalition Party – EPP) claimed that Finland voted against the European nature restoration law because of its excessive costs: “According to the Commission’s impact assessment, the costs are the highest in the EU for Finland in relation to the size of its economy.” The claim…

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