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Tweets of the Week: Brexit stalls, copyright passes, cars brake, and daylight savings

By Evan Lamos and Jennifer Baker | EURACTIV.com

29-03-2019

Brexiteers follow a predictable theme, copyright law threatens the meme, speed limits on cars make petrol heads scream and daylight savings will soon be just a dream. This episode is supported by Ceemet.

As we record, Theresa May was once again looking down the barrel of a Brexit gun this week after British MPs voted once again against pretty much every possible option going.

European Council President Donald Tusk appealed to MEPs to be open to a long extension if the UK wishes to rethink its strategy.

Meanwhile Scottish MEP Alyn Smith also made an impassioned plea for Europe to “leave the light on so we can find our way back.”

And while Nicholas Whyte analysed exactly where the UK had gone wrong in its negotiations…

German MEP Jens Geier told Darren McCaffrey that he couldn’t care less and was tired thinking about it.

Meanwhile, EURACTIV’s Alexandra Brzozowski pointed out that the next Brexit vote will most likely take place on April Fools Day.

Elsewhere, it was a bumper plenary week in Strasbourg. The biggest news was the vote on copyright reform, with MEPs voting 348 to 274 in favour of the new directive, including a controversial article on upload filters that many warned will ban memes. The horror!

James Felton was the first to start the amusing, if somewhat time-consuming trend of writing memes out in full.

While Martini Seltzermayr asked “Why’s everyone complaining about banning memes, a minute ago you wouldn’t stop complaining how awful they are.”

And it’s rare that I agree with Boris Johnson, but he was right in saying the new law is terrible for the internet.

He was just completely wrong about who was ultimately responsible, which everyone who knows more about how the EU works than Boris were happy to point out…

That was a LOT of people. Including James Felton again who said “Your own government supported it!”

The deal now has to get approval of the Council. Another controversial law getting the same treatment from pro-Brexit MPs is a new law to fit anti-speeding devices to cars.

Dave Keating said he’d seen Brexiteers describing the law as an example of classic EU overreach.

But the UK government says it will implement this law even after Brexit. MEP Daniel Dalton explained that it’s not compulsory to use the devices and the system can be overridden.

Unsurprisingly petrolhead boy racers like Jeremy Clarckson were unimpressed. “Cars forced to obey speed limits. Give me strength!”, he said.

But Ken Newton asked if anyone really needs the freedom to kill and injure thousands of people every year.

Finally, you can always tell when a European Parliament election is coming up as MEPs scrabble for popular laws. Five years ago they abolished mobile phone roaming charges. This time they want to abolish time itself!

The Parliament voted against continued daylight savings in 2021, but each country will get to decide which time they keep.

Scrapping daylight savings time is a good idea said Sam Morgan, just not the way the EU wants to do it.

Iris Classon is amused at the stress this will cause developers that hard coded summertime and wintertime.

And Brexiteers, well, take one wild guess who they blamed?

This week we are supported by Ceemet, the European employers’ organisation representing the interests of the metal, engineering and tech industries.  Find out more about their 10 Point Plan on the 2nd of April.

 

And that’s it for another week. Join us again next Friday for more thrills and spills in the Brussels bubble Twittersphere.

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