00:03Hello and welcome to The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking show.
00:07Across social media, users are claiming that paid clacquers were hired to applaud former German Chancellor Angela Merkel
00:14during a speech she gave at the European Parliament.
00:17Merkel was receiving the European Order of Merit, a newly created award honouring politicians for their contribution to EU integration
00:25and values.
00:26Some MEPs and social media users claim that because a number of right-wing MEPs boycotted the ceremony,
00:33the European Parliament hired paid applauders to give the impression that there were more people at the ceremony than there
00:39really were.
00:39So what's true here and what isn't?
00:42Now, several MEPs from the far right did indeed boycott the ceremony, including members of Italy's Lega Party,
00:48who said they would be attending a protest organised by Italian farmers instead.
00:52But claims by several MEPs and other social media users that clacquers were hired are false.
00:57Other posts referred to the people attending the session as extras.
01:01But this is not the case, as a spokesperson from the European Parliament confirmed to us,
01:06adding that the plenary session had been officially suspended for the duration of the ceremony.
01:10In reality, the people who were present in the chamber were not paid,
01:14but instead the laureates receiving the award, their family members and staff involved in the event.
01:19The Parliament also said that, as is customary during such events,
01:23MEPs who wanted to attend still had priority seating in the room.
01:27Footage from the event shows that the far left section of the chamber,
01:30where the hard-right Patriots for Europe group typically sits,
01:33was mostly empty for much of Merkel's speech and the applause that followed.
01:37There is therefore no evidence that those in the audience who were not MEPs were paid to attend,
01:42nor that they were there to stage applause for Merkel.
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