A euromyth is a exaggerated or invented story about the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU) and the activities of its institutions, such as purportedly nonsensical EU legislation.
[
]
Conversely, the same term has been applied by
Eurosceptics
Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...
to purportedly misleading or exaggerated claims by the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
, and some assert that the term (in the former sense) is falsely applied to true stories.
Debate as to whether a particular claim is true sometimes continues long after the original story appeared. On occasions, Euromyths may arise when the actions of a different European organisation, such as the
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
, are
erroneously attributed to the EU.
[.]
In 2000, the
British government
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announced a policy of publicly rebutting such myths and accused journalists of failing in their mission to inform.
Accusations of distorted or untruthful reporting are most commonly directed at conservative and Eurosceptic sections of the
British media
There are several different types of mass media in the United Kingdom: television, radio, newspapers, magazines and websites. The United Kingdom is known for its large music industry, along with its new and upcoming artists. The country also has a ...
.
Stories can present the European civil service
[''The Sun'', 5 September 2001, quoted in ] as drafting rules that "defy common sense". Examples cited as Euromyths include stories about rules banning
mince pies
A mince pie (also mincemeat pie in the United States, and fruit mince pie in Australia and New Zealand) is a sweet pie of English origin filled with mincemeat, being a mixture of fruit, spices and suet. The pies are traditionally served during the ...
,
prawn cocktail crisps, curved bananas and mushy peas.
Others include a story that English fish and chips shops would be forced to use Latin names for their fish (''The Sun'', 5 September 2001),
quoted in that double-decker buses would be banned (''The Times'', 9 April 1998),
[quoted in ] that barmaids would have to cover up their
cleavage.
In some cases, Euromyth stories have been traced to deliberate attempts by lobbyists to influence actions by the European bureaucracy, such as the level of
customs duties
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...
for particular products.
EU officials have also claimed that many such stories result from unclear or misunderstood information on complicated policies,
and are claimed to have seized on minor errors in stories as evidence that they are entirely fictional.
Examples
British sausage as an "Emulsified High Fat Offal Tube"
A 1984 episode of the satirical television programme ''
Yes Minister
''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fro ...
'' included a plotline in which the Commission would require the renaming of the
British sausage as an "emulsified high fat offal tube" on account of it not containing enough meat. The "eurosausage" story is used as an amusing but fictional example of a Euromyth.
Straight bananas
The alleged ban on curved bananas is a long-standing, famous and stereotypical claim that is used in headlines to typify the Euromyth. With other issues of acceptable quality and standards, the regulation specifies minimum dimensions and states that bananas shall be free from deformation or abnormal curvature.
The provisions relating to shape apply fully only to bananas sold as ''Extra'' class; slight defects of shape (but not size) are permitted in ''Class I'' and ''Class II'' bananas. A proposal banning straight bananas and other misshapen fruits was brought before the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
in 2008 and defeated.
On 29 July 2008, the European Commission held a preliminary vote towards repealing certain regulations relating to other fruit and vegetables but not bananas. According to the Commission's press release, "In this era of high prices and growing demand, it makes no sense to throw these products away or destroy them
..It shouldn't be the EU's job to regulate these things. It is far better to leave it to market operators". Some Eurosceptic sources have claimed this to be an admission that the original regulations did indeed ban undersized or misshapen fruit and vegetables.
On 25 March 2010, a BBC article stated that there were EU shape standardisation regulations in force on "apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces, peaches and nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes" and "Marketing standards for 26 types of produce had been scrapped in November 2008, following information that a fifth of produce had been rejected by shops across the EU for failing to meet the requirements".
See also
References
External links
Euromyths on the European Commission page(archived)
Euromyths from the BBCEuromyths popular in Poland(in Polish)
Euromyths connected to European standardson the
European Committee for Standardization
The European Committee for Standardization (CEN, french: Comité Européen de Normalisation) is a public standards organization whose mission is to foster the economy of the European Single Market and the wider European continent in global tr ...
webpage (archived)
{{European Union topics
Communication of falsehoods
Conspiracy theories in Europe
Euroscepticism
Politics of the European Union
Public opinion
Right-wing populism in Europe
Propaganda in the United Kingdom