Dear Sirs,

We are as surprised as your readers to hear that your newspaper believes the EU wishes to merge Britain and France. The suggestion that the “EU wants to merge UK with France”, 2nd May, is absurd, and of course, untrue.

There is no proposal to create a new cross-channel region. What exist (and have done for 10 years) are a number of cross-border programmes aimed at things like boosting jobs and looking after the environment.

Yours faithfully

Johannes Hahn,
Commissioner for Regional Policy

A similar clarification was also sent to the Daily Star for their article “EU makes us French” which was also published on 2 May 2011.

The European Commission does not oppose proportionate language testing in the UK for nurses or doctors from other EU member states and recent claims that the Commission could sue the UK in such cases are misleading. 

At the heart of the discussions is the Professional Qualifications Directive (2005/36/EC) which lays down minimum training requirements and allows the automatic recognition of professional qualifications for seven professions: doctors, general nurses, midwives, veterinary surgeons, dental surgeons, pharmacists and architects.

The directive clearly states “persons benefiting from the recognition of professional qualifications shall have a knowledge of languages necessary for practising the profession in the host member state”.

So in the case of EU qualified nurses, or doctors, coming to the UK to work they must have the necessary knowledge of English to enable them to do the job properly.  For instance, a nurse working in A&E would need a different level of English perhaps …

Despite numerous news reports in the past 48 hours, there are no EU plans to ban the sale of eggs sold by the dozen, or even by the half-dozen for that matter!

The media frenzy was generated following a vote by MEPs concerning amendments to EU food labelling rules, which are also being examined by member states’ ministers too. The real question being addressed is whether there should be an obligation to include weight measurements on the packs as well. Not instead of.

Read more at the EP in the UK website: http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/2010-archive/eggs-can-be-dozen

Clampdown on off-licences (The Sun 21 February 2005)
EU health chiefs are drawing up plans to close thousands of British off-licences… The proposal is said to be part of a drive to curb alcohol abuse across Europe. Other measures include a Monday to Friday ban on off-sales and huge booze price hikes through tax rises. A blueprint masterminded by EU health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou also contains moves to control sales through a state-run monopoly…

EU’s crazy bid to bar weekday sales (Daily Star 21 February 2005)
Supermarkets and off licences will only be allowed to sell booze at weekends under secret plans by barmy Brussels bureaucrats. A leaked document reveals EU chiefs want to ban take-away sales of alcohol from Monday-Friday in an over-the-top clampdown on binge drinking. They also plan to raise the tax on drink sold in pubs.
The EU has no plans, nor secret documents proposing to clamp down on off …

The last producer of Caerphilly cheese in Caerphilly has been forced to close having been told that it was illegal to take delivery of unpasteurised milk in metal churns.

Western Mail, p1, 25 April 1995

Daily Telegraph, p5, 25 April 1995

Daily Mail, p5, 25 April 1995

Daily Star, p9, 25 April 1995

The Sun, pp6 & 9, 25 April 1995

Daily Mirror, p13, 25 April 1995

Today, p15, 25 April 1995
The transportation of milk is governed by two Directives (Council Directive 92/46/EEC and 94/71/EEC) regulating the transportation of heat-treated and pasteurised milk from the farm to the dairy or processing plant. They ensure that churns and tanks of more than four litres must be ‘hermetically sealed before and during transport by means of a watertight sealing device’.
However, these provisions only apply to heat-treated or pasteurised milk. Raw or unpasteurised milk, though covered by both Directives, may still be transported in open churns. Despite this, general practice …

“EURO-PLUGS’

Myth: Britain is to be forced into changing its three pin plug to the continental two pin version, costing domestic users of electricity a fortune in rewiring and jeopardising the high safety standards in the UK.
(Daily Star, p.2, 27.5.94, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, 3.6.94, The Independent on Sunday, leader, 6.6.94)
Response: This is not the case. Cenelec – The European Committee for Electrotechnical standards, an independent organisation consisting of representatives from national standardisation bodies from some 18 European countries – is soon to vote on a common position from a number of proposals for standards across Europe. Plugs are but one part of this.
The European Commission welcomes the electrical industry’s initiative in this respect, as this kind of harmonisation is very much in the interests of the Single Market. However legislation at a European level, such as proposals for a Directive, need not be the end result. The European …