The European Commission is seeking to set the record straight with a website highlighting the misreporting of EU laws.

Called "Get your facts straight", the website is aimed at all Brussels-based journalists.

However, the majority of the stories highlighted on the site come from the famously eurosceptic British press.

Among those that the website aims to debunk are reports that the Queen is to be banned from owning corgis, and that bosses could be forced to consult workers on the brand of tea used in their offices.

Another story suggests that the EU wants to redefine what constitutes an island.

With referendums on the new constitution being held in countries across the continent over the coming months, improving the image of the EU among its increasingly sceptical citizens is seen as a key task for the new Commission.

'Myth and reality'

One article from the Guardian highlighted on the Commission's website suggested that "a proposal from Brussels" would redefine an island as "not an island if it has fewer than 50 permanent residents, is attached to the mainland by a rigid structure, is less than one kilometre from the mainland, or is home to the capital of an EU state".

But rebutting the claim, the website said: "Not even EU law can change dictionary definitions that have existed for centuries!

"This article refers to an EU-commissioned study to examine the general handicaps faced by island communities."

It says that these guidelines were used to narrow down the field of research, and says it is "ludicrous" to say that islands excluded from the study were "no longer islands".

A Daily Mail story from April 2002 warned that a ban on corgis could prevent the Queen owning her favourite breed of dogs.

"Some corgis - along with bulldogs, cocker spaniels and King Charles spaniels - could be among 100 breeds banned, animal lovers fear," said the paper.

However, relieved corgi owners are informed that the "EU convention" referred to in the story "has nothing whatsoever to do with the EU".

Instead, the suggestion comes in a voluntary set of guidelines drawn up in 1987 by the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals under the auspices of the Council of Europe.

Other ill-founded reports that the Commission seeks to clarify include reports that ill male members of staff at EU institutions can be partly reimbursed for the medical costs of six Viagra pills a month.

A Sun report that "red-faced women will have to hand in their clapped-out sex toys under a new EU law" is also dismissed.

And a Western Mail and Daily Post article reporting Conservative claims that an EU rule could force firms "to consult their workers on which brand of tea bags should be used in offices" is also rejected.