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Uncheckable: EU requires member states to ban cats from roaming outside

A claim that to many may sound absurd and disturbing spread across the Dutch media-landscape in November 2019. According to EU environmental laws domestic cats should be banned from roaming outside since they are a danger to wildlife. This was originally claimed by two law-researchers of the university of Tilburg in an article in the…

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Mostly true: “90% of income support in Milan is destined to immigrants”

The 18th of December 2019, the European parliamentarian Silvia Sardone, belonging to the far-right group named “Identity and Democracy”, published a statement on her official Facebook page, openly attacking the Municipality of Milan, which is currently guided by Democratic Party, main League rival, claiming that “90% of income support (in Milan) is destined to immigrants”.…

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Uncheckable: “One family of asylum seekers retroactively received more than 90.000 euros in child allowance”

The Belgian quality newspaper De Morgen published on 7 January 2020 an article with the title ‘One family of asylum seekers retroactively received more than 90,000 euros in child allowance’. In the article, Flemish Minister of Welfare Wouter Beke (CD&V) gives some numbers on the retroactive receipt of child allowance. Is the number correct and…

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Mostly true: “All the money from the Croatian governmental fund for development of local communities is allocated to the Church”

The Croatian online news outlet Telegram.hr published an article alleging that the Croatian Government allocates millions of HRK each year for the development of local communities and that predominantly it is the Catholic Church that wins the competition. The claim is highlighted in the title of the article, labelled as an ”exclusive“. Investigative journalist Andrej…

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True: “The Dutch pay the most for Euro 95 petrol in Europe”

Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraaf published on 7 January an article in which it stated that Euro 95 petrol in Europe is most expensive in the Netherlands. This news was written using research from consumer collective United Consumers. CLAIMIs Telegraaf correct by claiming that in the Netherlands you pay the highest amount of money for…

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True: “French coast guard intercepted two inflatable boats with illegal migrants”

The information that two inflatable boats with illegal migrants were intercepted by the French coast guard was published by the Russian socio-political, business newspaper Izvestia on October 4, 2019. According to the French Maritime Prefecture of the English Channel and the North Sea, a total of 31 people were brought ashore.

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Mostly true: “Because of climate change half of Europeans will be allergic to pollen”

A Croatian political platform called ‘We can!’ held a round table in December 2019 called “Are we all in the same boat?”. The main topic was climate change and its consequences. One of the guests was Mrs Dunja Mazzocco Drvar, meteorologist at the Croatian commercial TV channel RTL, interviewed by a Croatian online news outlet…

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True: “Annually 119.000 children are maltreated in the Netherlands”

Dutch broadcaster BNNVARA published an Instagram story stating that, in the Netherlands, every year 119.000 children are maltreated. The story was part of a special broadcast on child maltreatment in The Netherlands. Is the number correct and in the right context? The Instagram story and broadcast do not mention the source of the number of…

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Mostly true: “Carbon emission will lower with 85% with SAF”

On Twitter Royal Dutch Shell on November 18th 2019, announced that they will support SkyNRG, a supplier and distributor of sustainable aviation fuel, in assisting them to develop Europe’s first sustainable aviation fuel production plant through the Board Now program. In both the Tweet and the accompanying press release Shell states that concerning the lower…

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True: “Air quality in Flanders has improved over the years”

Zuhal Demir, minister of Environment for the Flemish government and affiliated to the Flemish nationalist party N-VA, states in the newspaper ‘De Morgen’ that the air quality in Flanders has evolved positively over the years. She claims that in response to an open letter in Flemish newspaper ‘De Standaard’ from journalist Nick Meynen, in which…

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