Two ducks stand in a dry fountain at the Louvre Museum on June 2, 2026, in Paris.Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

The EU is for the birds – POLITICO

by · POLITICO

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.

The name for a group of owls is a parliament. Presumably because, like politicians, they have deep-set eyes, toes that point in different directions and swallow their prey whole.

Alas, there is no collective noun for politicians (A scandal of politicians? A promise of politicians? A drone of politicians?). But if anyone decided to release some owls into a legislative chamber, it would be a parliament in a parliament, making headline writers the world over very happy.