'I can't check you in without your reference number'!

[nicolai]

So we hold up the passport where it says : 'Comunidad Europea' on the cover page.

"Und vat does zis mean".

... zis means zat you should look inside ze passport where it [probably] says ze same thing in all the languages of ze European Union including German [and very likely English]. Zen you should take your overly-Teutonic head and put it in ze toilet and press ze flush lever until you cool down and think better.

(Such people exist in Britain too; I was once asked, at Gatwick, to fill in the non-EU landing card when I arrived with a passport from a country which joined the EU at the same time as Britain!)