Here’s how the EU operates. The European Carbon Market crashed this month, with prices collapsing from E30 a tonne to E8 before rebounding slightly (although see here for a classic bit of French reasoning). An EU spokesman, however, denies any crash took place:

The Commission tried to play down the significance of the price drop saying there was “no crash”. “The market started at €6 and nobody then thought it would go above €10″, EU environment spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich told EurActiv.

There should be an award for statements like this.