Disinfo: EU is not democratic and is led by Germany

Summary

It is a very dangerous misconception to see the EU as a democratic institution. It is not one at all. It cannot even be one. It is, in fact, nothing else than a club lead by Germany. It is only useful to enforce interests, nothing else. The ideological coat of paint is simply power politics, and as EU leaders are getting angrier and angrier because things are not going the way they want them to, they are paying less and less attention to formalities. They used to ask nicely at first, then they shouted in personal meetings, then they cried foul openly. We got to the point where they want to take away all the benefits of EU membership from Central European states and strengthen all its disadvantages.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on the undemocratic EU and its dictate over the EU members. No evidence is presented about how the EU wants to take away the benefits of EU membership or strengthen its disadvantages. There is no proof either that Germany is leading it. Germany, while its opinion is influential in EU debate, cannot alone form a blocking majority in the Council of the European Union and German MEPs also cannot block or amend legislation in the EP without support from other delegations. Central European countries are themselves involved in EU decision-making in European institutions. The EU is a democratic Union of 27 Member States. The unique feature of the EU is that, although the Member States remain sovereign and independent states, they have decided to pool some of their 'sovereignty' in areas where it makes sense to work together. The decision-making structure in the EU is defined by the EU treaties. Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union ensures the principle of subsidiarity, which guarantees that decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen. Learn more here. See similar cases claiming that the EU is a neocolonial project, that the EU elections are a sham democratic “hullabaloo” for an undemocratic and exclusive EU, that EU is aggressive, and the EU continues the aggressive policies of Nazi Germany or a big number of European countries are under a new form of colonialism.

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hu.news-front.info (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 196
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 28/04/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Hungarian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: EU, CEE, Germany
  • Keywords: Euro-scepticism, Central Europe, EU disintegration
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Disproof

A recurring disinformation narrative about the Wagner group and Russian presence in Libya. The group is a private army linked to the Kremlin and has been fighting on the front lines of the Libyan war for nearly three months. The Russian firm Wagner Group is a shadowy mercenary outfit, actively engaged in conflicts on the Kremlin’s behalf from Ukraine to Syria to the Central African Republic. The Wagner group members are mostly ex-service personnel, fought clandestinely in support of Russian forces in Syria and Ukraine, according to Reuters interviews with dozens of contractors, their friends and relatives. According to Foreign Policy, the group fell into disgrace after the Syrian offensive and has recently been trying to find work in Africa in the training of local militias and with contracts for private security. Three Russian journalists who were investigating Wagner's presence in the Central African Republic were murdered in the summer of 2018. Others were threatened. Bloomberg reported, that more than 100 Wagner contractors arrived in Libya in early September to assist General Khalifa Haftar’s offensive against the GNA in Tripoli that began in April. To know more about the disinformation message regarding the Wagner group, check our report on a Russian attempt to hide all the pieces of evidence.

Disinfo: Euromaidan was organised by the Americans

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Apr 27, 2020
Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Ukraine's statehood which claims that the Euromaidan protests were organised by foreign forces. The spontaneous onset of the massive Euromaidan protests was a reaction of the Ukrainian population to the sudden departure of President Yanukovych from the Association Agreement with the European Union and to the brutal dispersal of student protestors on 30 November 2013. Read similar cases: "The US backed the coup in Ukraine in 2014", "What is happening in Ukraine is a Western project".

Disinfo: Dangerous experiments were carried out on people in Lugar Lab in Georgia

As you know, in Georgia, in the laboratory of Senator Richard Lugar in the suburbs of Tbilisi, the US Army Department of Medical Research is deployed. The documents submitted by the ex-Minister of State Security of Georgia Igor Giorgadze confirmed that dangerous experiments were carried out on living people in the laboratory.

Apr 27, 2020
Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative that Americans experimented on people in Georgia, with no evidence given. The U.S Embassy in Georgia officially addressed the conspiracy theories behind the Richard Lugar Centre as "nonsense and typical of Russian misinformation and propaganda campaigns." The Richard Lugar Centre for Public Health Research is a facility of the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC), which became operational in August 2013. The Lugar centre is a top-tiered institution in NCDC’s laboratory network and serves as a reference laboratory for Georgia’s public health system. Under no circumstances has this laboratory been designed or redesigned to build biological weapons. Read similar cases: "US might develop pathogen agents provoking dangerous diseases abroad including in the Lugar Lab located in Georgia", "US Department of Defence has a secret biological laboratory in Georgia".