The EU fines Italy for the use of the bidet, the hoax that is going crazy on the web

For several weeks the fabricated news has been spreading through blogs and internet sites. Among laughs (a few)  and many indignant comments

 Who says the news on the European Union is of little interest to Italians? Already for weeks from all corners of the boot they share, debate and complain about news arriving straight from Brussels. To awaken our compatriots’ passion for the community debate, a notice that could turn lives of all upside down, no exceptions: the European Union fines Italy for the use of the bidet and a preemptory order that the unpopular sanitary fixture be eliminated from public places and private homes as soon as possible.

A hoax, obviously, but that already for days has been spreading crazily around websites and social networks. “Europe is angry about the custom, as they say, totally Italian of using the bidet, a sanitary fixture considered by the majority of the Member States as absolutely useless and responsible for an excessive waste of water and space” states the launch of the agency “Anxiety Press” (satiric online news). Even the President of the Commission commented in person: “Italy will adapt and eliminate them all,” orders Josè Manuel Barroso categorically. Then the facts follow the words: our country, the alarmed blogs and internet sites warn, must also pay a fine of 50,000 Euro for not having implemented an unspecified “European directive.”

There were also fictitious political comments to accompany the article. Matteo Renzi, according to reports, raises the bidet as a symbol of cohesion for the continent: “The abolition could represent a first step toward a Europe that doesn’t feel united by money alone,” declares Anxiety Press again. For the Northern League however, the problem doesn’t hold value: “For the Celtic people – comments a proud Calderoli – it has never been a problem to do without a bidet and we Padani wash ourselves in the clean waters of our very own Po.”

Impossible, in front of so much, to not realize this is a colossal hoax? Apparently not. The shares, only on one of the many internet sites that reflect the news, amount to more than 43,000. And accompanying the article, besides some skeptic comments and amusing reactions, the indignant voices of those who are ready to raise barricades in defense of the Italian sanitary custom are not counted.

“Don’t touch our bidets!” exclaims Antonella confrontationally on Facebook. And agreeing with her there are at least 1,108 “likes.” And then there are insults to Barroso and for the European Community which does not “value

cultural differences,” contemptuous comments “on the habits of all northern European of washing too little and having third world hygiene” and actually some concerns for those who make bidets – they would soon be without jobs. The power of internet or perhaps of superficial interpretation. The fact is that for once the European debate has truly incited Italians. Let’s hope it also happens for other discussions – hopefully real ones.

Letizia Pascale