False: Italians stormed a mall to protest green passports

On November 20, 2020, a video appeared on the Georgian TikTok and Facebook, claiming that Italians had stormed a mall and, in this way, protested the demand for green passports.  One of the sources of the video is a Georgian user, who published the video with hashtags #nocovidfascism #nogreenpassports #nocovidpassports #nodiscriminationagainstnon-vaccinated #nocovidterror #nogreenpass. A video posted…

Mostly true: Unauthorized refugees in need of protection are receiving rejections in the EU

The refugee policies within EU states are struggling with transparency and consistency. According to a Deutsche Welle article, Catherine Woolard (director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles) said that asylum decision-making in Europe even resembles a lottery game, meaning that people often end up being rejected even though they need protection. By researching…

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Uncheckable: “Every euro that we give towards the EU budget, 12 euros will be returned to the Dutch business community”

Dutch politicians are regularly seen in late night talk shows, especially during the corona crisis. In the Dutch talk show ‘Op1’ party leader Rob Jetten from the social-liberal party D66 took part in a discussion and tried to explain how important the proposed Merkel-Macron Corona virus relief agreement is for the EU and the Netherlands.…

Mostly true: “While Greece and Malta are rejecting migrants, in 2020 in Italy more than 5000 sans-papiers arrived, despite the pandemic”

Matteo Salvini, former Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and leader of the largest right-wing party, “The League”, claimed in a well-known Italian tv show that “while Greece and Malta are rejecting boatloads of immigrants, in Italy in 2020 more than 5000 sans-papiers arrived by sea, despite the pandemic. He added that arrivals were only 1500…

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Mostly false: “History seems to be repeating itself, in the Middle Ages the Plague also entered Europe via Italy”

Bob Van Hee, professor emeritus in medical history of the University of Antwerp made a statement in an interview on the website of Flemish public broadcaster VRT that made some people frown: ‘History seems to be repeating itself: in the Middle Ages, the Plague also entered Europe via Italy, just as COVID-19’. The claim turns…

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Mostly false: “The previous ESM doesn’t exist anymore. It has become a fund without conditionalities”

The President of European Parliament David Sassoli claims on Twitter that the old European Stability Mechanism (ESM) doesn’t exist anymore and it has become a fund that all member countries can take advantage of without conditionalities, to cope with medical emergency caused by Covid-19 pandemic. The claim seems to be his remark following the Eurogroup…