The European Union is not shy when it comes to self-publicity. Its propaganda budget runs into hundreds of millions of pounds. Indirect publicity is generated through many methods.

Publicity generated from EU grants. Whenever money is granted by the EU to local projects in member countries this is always done on the proviso that 'adequate recognition' of the EU's contribution is made. This usually takes the form of flying the EU flag and posters/ press publicity acknowledging the 'gift' (along the lines of 'Local charity gains EU funding ..' entries in the local media). No mention is ever made of the fact that this money originates from UK contributions in the first place and that we contribute far more than we ever get back.

Subordination of the town 'twinning' process. Town 'twinning' goes on all over Europe (and the world for that matter). The participants in the twinning ceremonies (usually the Mayors) are now required to pledge allegiance to the European Union rather than their countries. This 'Twinning Oath' contains various dubious assertions about Europe's common cultural heritage and then proceeds to say that the participants: "give a solemn pledge . . . to join forces to help secure a successful outcome to this vital venture of peace and prosperity: European Union' (from the EU booklet 'A Europe of Towns and Villages').

Propaganda directed at children. "it is strategically judicious to act where resistance is weakest… Mother Europe must protect her children" De Clercq Report, EU Comite des Sages, 31 March 1993. Under the guise of 'education' the EU has been distributing information to schools all across the UK. In most cases no opposing point of view has been allowed because of the so called 'non-contentious and factual' nature of the information. In reality the material used, such as the two glossy brochures 'What Exactly is Europe, a classroom Guide to the EU' and 'Europe Today' present the EU as an infinitely benign organisation dedicated only to improving it citizen's lives. There is, for example, heavy emphasis on protecting the environment without any mention of the way the Common Fisheries Policy has destroyed Europe's fish stocks. Similarly there is a lot of information about the monies handed out by the EU to the UK without any mention of the fact that for every £3 we receive we hand over £5! The overall message is that the EU prevents wars, fights unemployment, cancer and pollution, furthers the interests of women, guarantees food production, preserves the environment, that a Single Currency will bring massive prosperity and that the EU represents everything 'good' while its opposition represents everything 'bad'. An extreme example of this is a comic for children called 'Captain Euro' where the EU supporting 'goodies' were all young and good looking and the anti-EU 'baddies' were either old, of non-European appearance or non-conventionally dressed. A frightening, almost 'Nazi', level of stereotyping. In a pluralist democracy it cannot be right for such a one-sided view to be presented to children and indeed Article 407 of the 1996 education act specifically forbids this.

A Europe of Regions. The concept of a European of 'Regions' is being used to attempt to bypass and marginalise national parliaments and national identities. Article 198a of the Maastricht treaty established a Committee of Regions with 189 members, 24 from the UK. This committee has the task of dividing the EU into regions and published a map of these in 1995. This map contained no national boundaries and divided the UK into 35 regions. The EU plan involves giving the regions tax-raising powers, elected administrations and links to direct to Brussels that do not involve national parliaments, therefore weakening these parliaments. This map, labelled NUTS2, has since been withdrawn as it caused a major outcry, among other things it showed Gibraltar as part of Spain and the Channel Islands as part of France but the committee's work continues. A region now exists that includes parts of Kent, Normandy and Belgium!