Apr162019

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”

Fact-check, Mostly true

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…

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Apr162019

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

Fact-check, Mostly true

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…

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Apr152019
fact-check uncheckable

Uncheckable: ‘’The National Coalition Party and United Russia have been fraternal parties for a long time’’

Fact-check, Uncheckable

On 18 February, the Finnish MEP Heidi Hautala claimed that Finnish National Coalition Party and United Russia have been fraternal parties for a long time. The National Coalition Party denies the cooperation with United Russia as well as sharing the same ideology, although there are reports of cooperation between the parties in the past. The…

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Apr122019

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

Fact-check, Mostly true

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…

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Apr102019

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

Fact-check, Mostly true

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…

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Apr32019
fact checking

Mostly false: “The Dutch have become considerably richer because of the euro, Belgians have become poorer”

Fact-check, Mostly false

  That is what the Belgian daily newspaper ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ reported on February 25th . The article is based on a study from the German think tank CEP (Centre for European Policy) in which they researched whether the inhabitants of 8 Euro countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) have…

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Mar282019

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

Fact-check, Mostly true

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…

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Mar272019

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

Fact-check, Mostly true

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…

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