could be related to this...

EU pours £3.8bn into 'brainwashing campaign' [align=left] Robert Watts
London Telegraph
Monday July 2, 2007[/align]
The European Union is spending £3.8 billion a year on "propaganda" to win over its sceptical citizens, it is claimed.
As well as publishing a plethora of pamphlets and employing an army of public relations staff, the EU has spent hundreds of millions of pounds on teaching aids, school trips and even cartoons.
According to Lee Rotherham, the author of a new book which examines the EU's spending on its image, such initiatives are an "outrageous and cynical attempt to brainwash the young". The Europa Diary, a gift from the EU to schoolchildren, is one example cited by Mr Rotherham in Hearts & Minds: the Tax-funded PR Campaign to Make us Love Brussels.

The diary has been sent to 1.2 million pupils in more than 9,000 schools across Europe. Its calendar includes pages that describe the European Parliament as "the people's voice" and claims that the EU has "improved the quality of people's everyday lives".
A version of the diary sent to Dutch schools describes the European Parliament as the "most important multi-national organ in the world".
Let's Explore Europe Together, an online teaching aid aimed at nine to 12-year-olds, describes the EU as a "really good plan that had never been tried before".
The European Parliament has also funded a cartoon called Operation Red Dragon, featuring a daring, fictitious MEP, Elisa Correr, who becomes "embroiled in a risky and fascinating adventure while in pursuit of her parliamentary activities".
She dodges assassins, hunts down a general who broke an arms embargo, and still has time to debate copyright law in Brussels. The text admits: "European Parliamentarians do not generally lead such dangerous lives ... nevertheless you can learn about the work of an MEP and other European institutions from the story."
In Italy, reports Mr Rotherham, children have been confronted by Camillo e l'Euro in Europa, a cartoon that champions the single currency.
Mr Rotherham said: "Much of this is outrageous propaganda cynically trying to brainwash the young into thinking the EU is an essential part of their lives.
"This stuff is relentlessly positive about the EU's work, with only the tiniest, if any, mention of the counter-arguments or any dissenting voices. Brussels realises it is losing people's hearts and minds and so it is spending more and more of our money on marketing material and hordes of press officers to champion its existence."
Europe's Best Successes, a 51-page pamphlet to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the EU, features lines such as "if you are lucky enough to be a citizen of the EU", and "young people have really benefited from the development of a borderless Europe".
Mr Rotherham also details extensive spending on umbrellas, mouse mats, pencils and other items branded with the EU logo - part of a £2.4 billion budget for European Commission "projects". He also reveals big grants to think-tanks and EU-funded trips to the European Parliament.
Using accounts from across the EU's five main institutions - the European Parliament, Council of Ministers, European Court of Justice, the EU Council and the European Court of Auditors - Mr Rotherham calculates that the total spent on "propaganda" last year across all member states was £3.8 billion out of an overall budget of about £84 billion. Britain contributes about £6.3 billion a year to the EU, more than any other member state.
A spokesman for the European Parliament in London described Mr Rotherham's work as "voodoo economics", and added: "The European Commission, quite rightly, like any public organisation, does spend money on both listening to the public and communicating its activities."


or this...


BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Brown wants a 'new world order'
Brown wants a 'new world order'

Mr Brown laid a floral tribute at the memorial for Mahatma Gandhi
Brown on challenges Chancellor Gordon Brown has spoken of the need for a "new world order" to deal with future security and environmental challenges. He called for a "new diplomacy" to go alongside military power to defeat terrorism, share prosperity and "win the battle of hearts and minds".
That meant strengthening Britain's global alliances but also reforming institutions such as the EU and UN.
Mr Brown was speaking in Mumbai on the latest stage of his tour of India.

The chancellor said he had been inspired by Mahatma Gandhi as he laid a wreath at the memorial to the former leader.
Mr Brown said he was not trying to compare himself to the founder of modern India but was inspired by his strength, courage and strong will.

He also quoted Winston Churchill, in an interview with the BBC's Nick Robinson, saying "you cannot meet the challenges of the future by simply building the present in the image of the past".
He said the British people wanted a "more secure world," a safer environment and greater prosperity and "that will require new diplomacy in the next few years to build better institutions."
Mr Brown said he would not pledge to always seek UN approval before taking military action.
'Bigger role'
"Nobody's going to make that commitment," he said, adding that Britain tried to work through the UN in Iraq, where it now had a mandate.
"The American alliance we have, the European cooperation that we welcome and are going to strengthen in the years to come, and our role in the Commonwealth are the basis on which we move forward.
"But I believe that there is a collective interest that the world can be persuaded of, in the United Nations playing a bigger role in security, Nato playing a bigger role out of theatre, and also the European Union as a collective institution playing a fuller role in world politics."

The Chancellor rejected Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain's criticism that the US "neo-conservative" mission had failed. "I don't accept that what America has tried to do has failed," he said.
Mr Brown also called for greater international co-operation and a stronger sense of national purpose in meeting the security threat.
"If we in Britain can have a stronger sense of what our national purpose is, that will enable us to face the challenges ahead.
"That would mean, in practice, we spend more time thinking about what can integrate us as a community and bring us together."
Earlier, Mr Brown said he has grown more relaxed speaking about the "big challenges" which will face him as the likely next prime minister.
He is widely expected to take over as prime minister when Tony Blair stands down this year.
'World leader'
He told the BBC: "It's the right thing to do, to talk about some of the big challenges for the future.
"I've been thinking about some of these big challenges. I see the potential for Britain to be a world leader in so many areas in the future.
"I also see that we can build that stronger sense of national identity in Britain that will give us strength to face the challenges of the future."
His three-day tour to India is being seen an attempt to move beyond fiscal policy and strengthen his international credentials.
But the visit has been overshadowed by the row over the alleged racist bullying of Indian actress Shilpa Shetty on the UK reality television show Celebrity Big Brother.
Mr Brown has already described as "offensive" the allegedly racist remarks and he faces possible further questions during a visit to a Bollywood film studio in Mumbai.
He is also expected to meet industrialists in the city, which is India's financial capital.

Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | Politics | Brown wants a 'new world order'

Published: 2007/01/19 10:24:57 GMT

© BBC MMVII