March 12, 2012
It is not true that the EU does nothing for crime victims (8 March). Victim protection is a key strand of the EU’s £500m anti-crime programme. Another programme supports domestic violence victims.
The EU funds NGOs like Victim Support UK. EU help to get ex-offenders into jobs means less crime. EU police cooperation catches criminals – like the 7/7 terrorist arrested in Italy.
The European Commission has tabled EU-wide rules to get victims proper support and the right to take part in trials. British victims want that. Take campaigner Maggie Hughes from Surrey. Her son Robbie was brutally attacked on holiday and she is backing the proposal.
Jonathan Scheele
Head of the European Commission Representation in the UK
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August 3, 2010
Sir,
Your article “EU smells fishy, 3 August 2010″ surreptitiously misleads your readers. The fact is we do NOT serve endangered bluefin tuna in our restaurants. A written mistake made on a menu, which should have read ‘yellowfin tuna’ – not an endangered species – does not amount to the same.
Yours faithfully,
Michael Mann – Spokesman for Inter-institutional Relations and Administration
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June 29, 2010
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
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June 8, 2010
Once again The Sun has got its measure wrong. Speculating on what it sees as renewed preference towards imperial, rather than metric measures (“Miles better”, 7 June 2010) the newspaper blames “Brussels” for a “drive to rob our country of her identity”. In fact, going metric is not the result of EU membership. The drive for alignment with global moves in this direction was started by a British government more than 40 years ago – in 1965, eight years before the United Kingdom joined the EU.
Brussels only involvement is to ensure that EU legislation recognises the UK’s pint, mile and troy ounce for as long as the UK wishes to continue using them.
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July 21, 2008
Rolling acres are outlawed by Brussels (The Daily Telegraph, 21 July 2008, p1)
The acre, one of Britain’s historic imperial measurements, is to be banned under a new European directive. It will no longer be allowed in measurements when land is being registered and will be replaced by the hectare – 2.471 acres.
Acreshaker – EU meddlers sneak in a ban on our historic land measure (The Sun, 21 July 2008, p6 and p8)
EU chiefs have secretly BANNED Britain from using the acre – one of our oldest forms of measurement. Ministers killed it off when they put up no objection to a European Commission directive outlawing its use…… British farmers and estate agents will have to use the word “hectare” from January 1, 2010.
Now the EU is to ban the acre (Daily Express, 21 July 2008, p10 and p12)
The acre is set to be banned after the EU announced that Labour …
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April 23, 2008
“On St. George’s Day, say goodbye to England”
(Daily Telegraph, 23 April 2008)
“Up the Pole” – Revealed: EU’s secret plot to abolish Britain
(The Sun, 23 April 2008)
“How Brussels has wiped England and the English Channel off the map”
(Daily Mail, 23 April 2008)
Revealed: EU’s secret plot to ban Britain
(Daily Express, 23 April 2008)
These articles are utterly false and have no basis in reality. Here are the facts:
This has nothing to do with drawing up administrative borders, which is something the UK is deciding on
This is nothing new:
INTERREG (European Territorial Cooperation objective since 2007) which promotes cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation has existed since 1990 when the first Community Initiative was launched (INTERREG II : 1994-1999, INTERREG III 2000-2007)
In total UK participates in 4 cross-border, 4 transnational and in all the interregional (networking) programmes (see attached country fiche).
The only new programme the UK is participating in is the quadrilateral “2 Seas” cross-border cooperation …
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March 31, 2008
“Insult to democracy and common sense” (Daily Mail, 31 March 2008)
“EU have gone too far Harriet, love” (The Sun, 1 April 2008)
“Chat up bar girl and pub will be fined” (Daily Star, 1 April 2008)
According to the papers, all pub landlords are required to prevent customers from chatting up bar staff or calling them ‘love’ or ‘darling’ and will face unlimited damages if they fail to do so. The Sun blames this on the EU: “[Harriet Harman, the Women and Equalities Minister] has sneaked this new law through without having to bother with parliament because, as you will have guessed, it is the latest rubbish to come out of the EU.” The Mail blasts in its editorial: “Nobody voted for it. It was dreamed up by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels and is now being imposed on Britain without parliamentary debate of division”. The Star is happy to hint at an …
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December 12, 2006
Ambulance shake-up “kills 12′ (Sunday Express, 7 January 2007 front page)
Two central issues are raising alarm …Secondly, for the first time ambulance teams have to take meal breaks of up to 45 minutes. These are ruled compulsory under EU law but are actually subject to local negotiation. Before crews took breaks when and where they could during shifts so that they were always available for calls.
Heart attack man dies as 999 crew take a rest break (Daily Mail, 6 January 2007 p.36)
Two ambulance crews were unavailable to help a dying man because they were on breaks laid down by European laws. Under new rules to comply with health and safety and the European Working Time directives the two crews remained at th ir North London ambulance station despite receiving a 999 call…….Yesterday a London Ambulance Service spokesman admitted two crews were unable to attend because they were on “EU rest …
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October 31, 2006
“Brussels is to spend £600 million over six years on feeding young people EU “propaganda” (The Sun, 31 October 2006, p2)
The ‘Youth in Action’ programme is part of the Commission’s youth programme. Social tensions and the threat of unemployment in an ever-changing, competitive world economy, disproportionately affect the young. For this reason, efforts are underway at member state and EU levels to encourage young people to play an active role in the society in which they live. See the press release here, published on 25 October 2006.
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September 6, 2006
‘New map of Britain that makes Kent part of France’
“For centuries the people of Kent have called their county the Garden of England. So they might find it quite a surprise that – according to the European Union at least – they are actually part of France. Along with next-door Sussex, Kent has been rolled in with the Calais areas on a map drawn up for Brussels.”
(Daily Mail, 4 September 2006, p.10)
‘New EU map makes Kent part of same ‘nation’ as France’
(Sunday Telegraph, 3 September 2006, p.9 September 2006, p.9))
‘Brussels plot to wipe Britain off the map’
(The Express on Sunday, 3 September 2006, p.10)
‘Wolf at door’
(The Sun, 4 September 2006, p.6)
The EU is not planning to “wipe Britain off the map”. The proposed spatial information database the press articles refer to would support environmental protection in the EU, not redraw the map of Europe.
The planned database would improve European capability …
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