Euromyth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A euromyth is a statement about the European Union which is either deliberately untrue or a distortion of the facts. Those who use the term allege that the Eurosceptic press create such false stories about EU policies to portray the EU in a bad light.
Often euromyths appearing in the media are drawn from working papers or are policy suggestions which have yet to be adopted as official policy. It is argued that Eurosceptic newspapers present these ideas as a fait accompli when they are not. Misunderstandings also arise due to other non-EU European institutions such as the European Court of Human Rights being either deliberately or accidentally confused with the EU itself.
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[edit] Euromyths in the media
On the 23 July 2003 The Times ran the following story; "Circus performer must walk tightrope in hard hat, says Brussels. A tightrope-walker says that his career has been placed in jeopardy by legislation originating in Brussels which dictates that he must wear a hard hat to perform". This story stemmed from new EU laws which were introduced to protect workers who operate at height but, in the legislation in question, there is no mention of hard hats or circus performers. [1]
In 2003 the BBC reported that a council in Wiltshire had had to remove swings from a village because, under EU regulations, they were considered "too high". [2] As with many Euromyths, there was both fact and fiction in the story: the BBC article continues to note that the EU did not in fact insist that the swings were removed but points out that the council itself chose to remove the swings as the framework itself was considered to be dangerously high under the new EU regulations.
Other examples follow a similar pattern:-
[edit] Straight Rhubarb
"Crackpot Euro chiefs have decreed British rhubarb must be straight. Farmers will have to throw away crooked stalks under barmy new rules. The order follows a review of community fruit and vegetable standards by the EU agricultural directorate". The Sun, 24 June 1996, page 11.
In fact the European Union has never planned to set, or recommend, any such marketing rules for rhubarb but it did set out grading standards for fruit and vegetables and an attempt was made to prosecute the British supermarket chain Asda for breaching grading standards. [3]
[edit] Truck Drivers to eat Muesli
According to the EU commission in Australia and New Zealand [4] it was reported in several British newspapers that Truck drivers were going to be forced to stop eating 'fry-ups' and be forced to eat Muesli and Croissants by the EU.
In fact the EU was merely planning guidelines for truck drivers which focussed on health and safety issues such as diet. The legislation was mainly concerned with enforcing driver training and conveying information on the importance of rest and responsible driving. There was no mention of "being forced to eat muesli".
(This story also appears in the BBC quiz on the EU and "Euromyths" [5])
[edit] One-size Condoms
The EU condom regulation story was a highly successful April Fools' joke by Radio Netherlands that used wide-spread suspicion of what many saw as the regulatory zeal of the European Commission to make an impact. It was picked up by many newspapers and radio stations in Europe.
On 1 April 2007 Vanessa Mock, a journalist at the Brussels bureau of Radio Netherlands broke a story about a European Commission proposal to strictly regulate the size of condoms in the European Union. Amongst others, it included interviews with a Commission spokesman and a Member of the European Parliament and credibly argued that regulation was necessary to ensure competition and a level playing field for small condom makers - an argument regularly made in real life by the European Commission, one of whose many roles is to regulate the EU's internal market and uphold competition. [6]
In fact the EU is not involved in setting condom standards. The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) is a voluntary body made up of national standards agencies and affiliated industry/consumer organisations from nineteen European countries. It has nothing to do with the EU. [7]
