EUfactcheck #10 ‘EU Elections 2024’

This spring season students from the EJTA journalism schools will once again check statements about topics in the upcoming EU elections. In their home universities and in cooperation with students from other EJTA schools they will produce fact checks, analyses and blogs. We expect to publish the first posts in early April. Follow us here or on  X and on our Facebook page.

EUfactcheck, an initiative of the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA) fights misinformation about European policies and topics. Journalism students from all over Europe factcheck claims made by politicians and others and rate them. Our focus is not to debunk fake news or disinformation but to give correct information to the reader.

Latest fact-checks

Mostly true: “Banning nuclear energy is the stupidest thing a country can do”

On April 18th of this year, Bart de Wever, the leader of the political opposition party the New-Flemish Alliance claimed on Twitter that ‘banning nuclear energy is the stupidest thing a country can do’. The tweet lacks context but contains accurate numbers. It appears this claim is mostly true. Bart De Wever tweeted a screenshot…

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Mostly True: In the past season, 961 games in amateur football were canceled due to violence and discrimination

On August 29, 2023, the online newspaper “Welt” published an article with the headline “Game cancellations in amateur football – DFB names shocking figures”. The article claims that in the past 2022/23 season, 961 games in amateur football were canceled due to violence and discrimination. The claim is considered: mostly true. For better understanding, the…

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True: Migratory birds are threatened by climate change

The impact of climate change on animals and nature is a recurring research topic. But according to the news website n-tv also the habitats of migratory birds are threatened by climate change. This claim turns out to be true. Climate change is affecting most coastal areas and their inhabitants, such as migratory birds that stop…

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Uncheckable: EU spends trillions to slow climate change by 0.05 degrees

An article in the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) by Bjørn Lomborg from 2013 claims that the EU is spending trillions of euros to reduce global warming by just 0.05 degrees Celsius. According to current research, the costs could be significantly higher. The effect of the measures on global warming remains unclear. Scientific forecasts come…

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Mostly True: Significant increase in abortions in Germany since 2022

An article in the German magazine “der Spiegel” claims that the number of abortions in Germany has been increasing significantly since 2022. The fact check shows: Mostly True. The article in “Der Spiegel” magazine refers to statistics from the Federal Statistical Office. Taking a look at the figures from the Federal Statistical Office, they show…

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Mostly True: EU policies do not favour sustainable production or consumption

The World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) claims that “EU policies do not favor sustainable producion or consumpion”. By checking the credibility of the source and analyzing the statements of the EU Commission, we conclude that the claim is mostly true. Understanding food security and sustainability in the EU The EU is increasingly focusing on sustainable and…

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True: “More pensioners than ever need basic income support”

On August 29th 2023, the German news channel “Tagesschau” published a report indicating that in Germany more than 680 000 pensioners were dependent on basic income support in the first quarter of 2023. More than ever before. This worrying development was outlined with reference to the German Federal Statistical Office. It comes out to be…

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Mostly True: “Alcohol consumption among young people at an all time low”

On June 23rd 2022, the Tagesschau published an article on alcohol consumption by teenagers and young adults. The article is titled “Alcohol consumption among young people at an all time low” and focuses on the changing consumption behavior towards alcohol, smoking and cannabis among teenagers (12 to 17 years) and young adults (18 to 25…

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Mostly True: The European population perceives climate change as a serious problem

On July 20th, 2023, the German representation of the European Commission published a press release entitled: “Eurobarometer survey: climate change is a serious problem and should be tackled more quickly”. The claim that can be derived from this is that the European population perceives climate change as a serious problem. The statistics are correctly reproduced…

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False: “300,000 rejected asylum seekers receive full welfare benefits”

Friedrich Merz, Federal Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), said in an interview on the Television show “Welt Talk”: “People go crazy when they see that 300,000 asylum seekers are rejected, don’t leave the country, get the full benefits, get the full welfare benefits.” After checking the facts, it turns out that…

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Latest blog posts

Blog: The possible accuracy of global Covid vaccination numbers

This blog post reveals why the tweet of an UN representative, claiming that just 0.3% of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in lower-income countries, was not as easy to fact check as initially believed. Strictly, the statement can be seen as false, but does the complexity of the according figures even allow a definite judgment?…

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Blog: Different country regulations in the asylum procedure

It still seems like serendipity for refugees to receive an authorisation in their destination countries. We’ve listed several stats to explain the asylum process difficulties and taken a look at the different initial situations of Croatia, Germany, Greece, France and Italy, as well as the role of Turkey. For further details our factcheck: “Mostly true:…

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Blog: Not all that glitters is gold — One-sided reporting in the media landscape

Isn‘t it great news? Wind energy overtook coal power as the largest energy source in Germany. In our fact check, we confirmed this fact as mostly true. However, wind power is also controversial. What are the downsides? The online news portal of the public broadcasters of Germany,Tagesschau.de subliminally glorifies the rapid rise of wind energy…

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Blog: “We’re not in the situation of a migrant crisis at the borders any longer”

“We must expel all illegal immigrants and close our external borders,” expresses Nicolas Bay, vice-president of the European Identity and Democracy Group, during the plenary session of 19 January. Relying on the statistics mentioned in the Frontex press release about irregular migrants, Bay creates the image of an unmanageable flow of people entering Europe without…

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A symbol picture with the silhouette of two pregnant women.

Blog: Sexual rights are even harder to obtain than before the pandemic

Having uncomplicated access to sexual rights is still very difficult these days. We explored the difficulty of accessing SRHR (sexual and reproductive health and rights) in times of the Corona pandemic. The topic of SRHR deals with issues such as sexual health, sexual rights, reproductive health and reproductive rights. These basic human rights include issues…

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Blog: The troubles of fact-checking: one-way communication barriers

The right-winged political group in the European Parliament, Identity and Democracy (ID), posted the following on their Twitter feed: “Ursula von der Leyen is forcing EU-members to go carbon-neutral whilst taking a private jet for half of her worldwide missions.” The investigation of this claim accusing the European Commission President on January 8th led to…

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European Journalism Training Association EJTA
Council of Europe
evens foundation
Group photo EUFACTCHECK 240119

The EUFACTCHECK project

EUFACTCHECK is the fact-checking project of the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA) that intends to build a sustainable curriculum unit on fact-checking within a European network of Journalism schools.

Through fact-checking European political claims and trying to tackle misinformation, we want our students and our public to grow a deeper insight and interest in democratic processes, both on national and European level.

EUFACTCHECK wishes to motivate fact-based debate in the EU and to stimulate media and information literacy.

Our history

After the success of the students’ publications, the participants of EJTA’s fact-checking project EUFACTCHECK decided at the EJTA AGM in Paris (July 2019) to move on with the project and to take new steps in the academic year 2019-2020.

By January-February 2019 a manual with guidelines and tips & tricks was published. In February 2020 a second Bootcamp will be organised in Ljubljana, with financial help from the Evens Foundation. This Train the Trainer focused on Central Eastern European countries, some new schools joined this project.
During corona the EJTA-schools continued to verify claims and publish fact checks. Now we are looking ahead to the 2024 EU elections.

For information about the EUfactcheck project please contact the programme manager: carien.touwen@hu.nl 

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