The Spanish news agency, Agencia EFE, grossly misrepresented the speech delivered last week in the Dutch Parliament by Ukrainian President Volodímir Zelensky, attributing phrases to him that he never said. A tweet on the EuroEFE Twitter profile implied that in his speech to Dutch lawmakers on March 31st, Zelensky had mentioned Philip II of Spain and the 80-Year War, Libertad Digital reports.
“He reminded the Netherlands that ‘it was founded’ after the 80 Years’ War ‘against the tyranny’ of Philip II of Spain,” Agencia EFE tweeted.
In reality, Zelensky had made no reference to either the Spanish king or the 80 Years’ War.
The association, With Ukraine, denounced the misattribution on the same social network as a “gross manipulation” by the news agency, linking to the full speech delivered by the Ukrainian president.
Zelensky actually said: “Why was the Netherlands founded? For freedom, democracy, religious diversity. This is how the road to a united Europe began.”
But the damage was done. The anti-Spanish slant of the Agencia EFE tweet provoked a strong reaction from supporters of VOX on Twitter, as they called for Zelensky’s speech to the Spanish Parliament scheduled for Tuesday, April 5th, to be cancelled.
For a news agency to so grossly misrepresent Zelensky’s words warrants attention. Such an action seemed intended to provoke VOX supporters into an anti-Zelensky stance, a position which, no matter the reason, is hard to justify these days.
