www.mega.bupnet.eu EU MYTHS AND SUCCESS STORIES The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. www.mega.bupnet.eu INTRODUCTION What is an EU myth? EU myth or euromyth usually refers to invented stories or distorted facts about the European Union (EU) and the activities of its institutions. The EU is accused of nonsensical EU legislation, bureaucracy and all difficulties and challenges arising from global trends. Why should we talk about EU myths and check the real facts? As European Union constantly faces different manifestations of Europhobia, unmasking EU myths becomes more and more important to keep the EU united. Web-based communication and social media take a significant part in today’s Eurosceptic mobilization. Facts checking help not only to unmask the EU myths but as well to better understand the EU processes. What is MEGA project? MEGA project stands for Make Europe Great Again and is a two-year project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme (project number 2019-3-DE04-KA205- 018681) that aims at enhancing critical thinking and media literacy of young people by analysing and unmasking Europhobic myths. The project partnership is coordinated by the German Adult Education provider BUPNET GmbH based in Göttingen and consists of partners from Austria, Cyprus, France, Italy and Lithuania. Compilation of the EU myths (fake news) and success stories consists of 145 of the most common EU myths along with the explanations with facts and useful links where correct information can be found and 60 success stories along with shortcomings of the EU. For easier reading myths are grouped into topics such as legislation, policy, religion, culture, migration, finances, functioning of the EU, health care, democracy, Brexit, and then into countries. Success stories of the EU are grouped into general achievements and country-specific stories. Most of the links to reliable sourses are only available in national languages, therefore we recommend to use “Google Translate” or other tools to read them. If you are interested to learn more about MEGA project or to contact us go to https://mega.bupnet.eu/ The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. www.mega.bupnet.eu SPOTTING FAKE NEWS AND MISINFORMATION How to decide whether the story should be trusted: The Story Where did you find the story? Investigate the site, its contact info, read the“About us” section The Author Who is the author of the story? Is there an author or it is anony-mous? Does the author specialize in the field that the article is concerned with? To check this info about the author, go to LinkedIn or make a quick Google search. Fact Check Does all the evidence match? Check the sources of the story, if there are no sources try to find as much information as you can and then decide if the story is accurate or not. Make sure there are at least two sources to verify a story. Be cautious if you see provocative headlines with excessive use of capital letters or emotional language. Images Is there a video or are there pictures in the story? Check them using a reverse image search tool. Find a list of fact checking websites here. The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. www.mega.bupnet.eu COMPILATION BY TOPIC An overview of the chapters presented in the following. You can use the tabs on the left while scrolling to know which chapter you are currently reading. Legislation Policy Culture Finances EU legislation is one of Myths from various Myths about the EU Popular myths like the the most popular policy areas such as interfering & under- Euro (€) being dysfun- myths’ objects in many environment, health mining its Member ctional and to blame European countries. care, security or justice. States’ traditions and for the rising prices culture Quality Health Democracy Brexit of Life Care Myths which blame EU Myths about the EU Myths surrounding the Stories about how EU for worsening our well- not being a democratic hottest media news is using Covid19 to being, like lowering union or even the dic- regarding the EU, e.g. push compulsory food standards. tatorship of Brussels. the Pound being vaccination and other worthless after Brexit. misleading information. Functioning Environ- Religion Migration of the EU ment Myths from EU being How Germany exploits Topic of environment The most common anti-Christian to EU the EU for its own inte- seems innocent, but it myths about migration tolerating pedophile rests & the French laws is still surrounded by a like immigrants actions. are dictated by the EU. lot of fake stories. invading Europe. Country General Specific Achieve- Achieve- ments ments General Achievements Find more country- of the EU. specific succes stories, like ERASMUS+ experiences. The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. www.mega.bupnet.eu LEGISLATION In this chapter you will find myths from banning memes and GIFs to "made in Italy" products. EU legislation is one of the most popular Legislation myths’ objects in many European countries. If you want to grasp the real story you should first better understand how EU legislation works. In general, it is the European Commission that proposes new legislation, but it is the Council and Parliament that pass the laws (How the European Union works, 2005). Click to find more information about EU legislative procedure. LITHUANIA The EU has banned vacuum cleaners FALSE ________Vacuum cleaners have not been banned and new laws have been apassed for environmental reasons. The European Union has passed a resolution requiring vacuum cleaner manufacturers to switch to less energy-intensive vacuum cleaners. Powerful vacuum clea-ners consume significantly more electricity, are noisier and not economical. It is this transition that would save almost twice as much electricity in the countries of the European Union. Click reliable source The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. www.mega.bupnet.eu The EU has restricted freedom of expression online FALSE The myth of the EU's intention to restrict freedom of expression on the Internet has spread since the new copyright law. This law obliged social Legislation networks and platforms such as Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, and others to ensure that user-generated content does not violate copyright. Many have feared that these online platforms will have to install automatic filters which will block not only content that is illegal but also content that is allowed, because filters will not be able to distinguish between legal and illegal. Critics believe that this would violate freedom of expression online. On the other hand, the EU makes it clear that existing works can be used throughout Europe for citation, critique, review, caricature and parody purposes. Facebook, Google, and other platforms themselves can decide how to enforce copyright law while leaving the means of expression to the users. Check reliable source European Union banned children from inflating balloons FALSE In 2011, the media reported that the European Union had banned children from inflating balloons. News portals reported that EU officials saw a deadly threat in the simplest toys such as inflatable balloons. In fact, the EU Toy Safety Directive aims to protect children's health and the requirements are to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals in toys as well as update instruction for the use. The EU has not banned children from inflating balloons but has demanded that latex balloons be accompanied by a warning that children under the age of 8 be supervised by their parents when inflating balloons. This warning is intended to protect children from suffocation or choking on such a toy. Check reliable source The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. www.mega.bupnet.eu National flags have been banned in the EU Parliament FALSE _________News about banned national flags in the European Parliament has been seen on social networks and in the media. Representatives of Britain Legislation announced on their social networks that the national flag had been removed from their benches, called the gesture a ban on national symbols, and welcomed their withdrawal from the union. A Danish spokesman, meanwhile, said the speaker of the parliament "clearly hates nation-states." In fact, the order that there should be no objects including the flags on the tables in the Chamber has been in place for a long time. The President of Parliament has merely recalled this procedure, and the flags of the Member States have been put on the sides of the Chamber and are therefore not prohibited.