Graham's Euro-Myth of the Week

Click image to help redress the balance in the region's newspaper letters pages

This week's myths have been provided by P H Jilbert from Newton Abbot (also home to the South West UKIP head office) in a letter to the Western Morning News.

It is now a widely recognised UKIP strategy to fill the letters pages of regional newspapers with lies and untruths about the EU, in the hope of passing them off as fact over time.

If you would like to help re-balance these pages, click the link below to find the contact details for all the main newspapers in the South West.

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Turning to P H Jilbert's letter;

Myth One: The Lisbon Treaty has become a United States of Europe

Many of us would say a United States of Europe (as opposed to a Divided States of Europe) would be a good thing, but readers can rest assured that the EU remains an organisation made up of 27 sovereign nation states.

The Lisbon Treaty also sets out a formal procedure for leaving the EU, emphasising that the choice of membership resides entirely with each member state.

Myth Two: The Lisbon Treaty means Europe can now replace the Pound with the Euro

The Economic and Monetary Union of the EU (establishing a Eurozone) was created in 1992 during the Treaty of Maastricht. However, Britain, along with Denmark, opted out of joining and thus has no treaty commitment to join the Euro.

The decision to adopt the Euro lies solely with the UK Government, and would more than likely require a referendum to alter Treaty provisions.

EU institutions have no power over the UK in this regard. The only pressure that Europe places on the Pound, is due to the fact that the Euro is now internationally renowned, respected and used currency.

Myth Three: The Lisbon Treaty means Brits must now drive on the right hand side of the road

It can sometimes be hard to refute stories about the EU; not because they are true, but because you have no idea where they come from! This belief most probably comes from an irrational fear of anything "foreign".

There is no reason why the EU would do this, and the Lisbon Treaty certainly grants no powers to do so.

You could even say that the EU rules that allow Brits to buy right-hand-drive cars anywhere in Europe enshrines and protects Britain's system.

Myth Four: The Lisbon Treaty means the British Isles can be dissolved into administrative regions

See Myth One. The EU has no power to dissolve any nation. It is made up of 27 sovereign member states, which retain the right to leave the union at any time.

The UK Parliament, and hence the UK as a country, is constitutionally sovereign over the EU.

The UK is divided into 12 regions (by the UK Government) for the sole purpose of electing MEPs.

Myth Five: The Arc Manche Project threatens Britain's existence

This rumour started after the Daily Mail and the Sun sought to highjack St George's day last year. They claimed to have "uncovered" a plan to abolish England, and merge the southern coast with northern France.

However, what they had really done was visit the website of the Espace Manche Development Initiative, a project that helps the two countries share experience and data relating to tourism and coastal management.

Here they downloaded a map of the project area, and cooked up a juicy story for Europhobes. You can view the website here: http://www.arcmanche.com/en/realisations/espace-manche-development-initiative/

There is no "European Plan" to wipe England off the map. The EU has absolutely no power or aspiration to interfere with national borders.

"The EU has an army and a police force"

The EU has no "police force" or "army". UKIPers may themselves be getting confused by:

The Lib Dems in Europe: Formidable, but not yet an "EU Army"!

European Gendarmerie Force (EGF)

Some member states have organised a trans-national European Gendarmerie Force (EGF). This was launched by an agreement in 2006 between five European countries: France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, with Romania subsequently joining.The purpose of the EGF is to make available rapidly deployable paramilitary police units able to perform a variety of policing roles. They police "hotspots" such as Kosovo and Afghanistan, and help to train police forces around the world.

The UK is not a member of the EGF, and the force cannot simply deploy in the UK.

EU Battle Group

Following an initiative by the French and British in 1999 and 2003, some member states agreed to designate sections of their armed forces to be ready to respond to crisis situations around the world. The groups are rotated, with usually around 3,000 troops from around Europe on standby at a time.

Deployment has to be with the agreement of all member states. ie: the British government could veto any deployment.

Europol

Europol's mission is to assist the law enforcement authorities of Member States in their fight against serious forms of organised crime that operates across borders; like drug and people trafficking.

Europol can only act upon request of a member state's police force and its staff have no power to arrest without the authority of national police forces. Their role is about coordination and information exchange.

It may also ease the nerves of some to know that Europol's current Director is Rob Wainwright from Carmarthen, Wales! His CV can be viewed below!

• View Rob Wainwright's CV!

The European Court of Auditor's won't sign off the EU's accounts because they are "riddled with fraud"

Unfortunately for Eurosceptics, this is simply not true.

Auditors do not say that the EU accounts are "riddled with fruad"; they estimate that just 0.09% of the budget is subject to fraud and most of this is recovered. This is a remarkably low figure compared to other public accounts.

What auditors usually find is administrative errors- such as a wrong box being ticked, or part of a form incomplete- not misuse of money. In their drive to mislead the British public, Eurosceptic groups like UKIP try to claim otherwise.

In fact, the European Court of Auditors have consistently declared the EU accounts reliable, and the strict standards they apply mean that many national governments would not come through unscathed.

UK Auditor General Sir John Bourn said in 2007 that there were 500 UK Government accounts and;

"in the last year, I qualified 13 of the 500. If I had to operate the EU system, then, because I qualify 13 accounts, I might have to qualify the whole of British central government expenditure."

In other words, if the strict system operated in Europe was followed by auditors in the UK, then similar statements on Government accounts would also have to be made.

Of course, this does not vindicate the small amount of fraud that does take place, and Graham and his Liberal Democrat colleagues have urged the Commission to ensure member states are regulating spending properly.

The Commission have responded with a fourfold increase in so called "claw-backs" of funds in 2008. This does not mean that fraud has increased by the same degree, but that the Commission is forcing member states to think more carefully about their procedures when making payments on behalf of the EU.

Regardless of this, the use of Structural Funds have been particularly successful, especially here in the South West. Part of the reason for this is that although Europe defines the criteria for funding, it is up to national and local governments, as well as local communities, to decide where it is spent.

We must not let UKIP propaganda jeopardise this.

• For more information on the EU accounts follow this link.

To find out the truth behind more Euromyths, follow the link below, or check back to this website again next week.

• More Euromyths busted.

If you know of any Euromyths that need busting, send them to euro_office@cix.co.uk