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.
"WHAT DO WE WANT?
NO!
WHEN DO WE WANT IT?
NO!"
— Marie Le Holiday (@youngvulgarian) March 27, 2019
European Council President Donald Tusk appealed to MEPs to be open to a long extension if the UK wishes to rethink its strategy.
Appeal to EP: You should be open to a long extension, if the UK wishes to rethink its strategy. 6 million people signed the petition, 1 million marched. They may not feel sufficiently represented by UK Parliament but they must feel represented by you. Because they are Europeans.
— Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) March 27, 2019
Meanwhile Scottish MEP Alyn Smith also made an impassioned plea for Europe to “leave the light on so we can find our way back.”
🏴🤝🇪🇺 @theSNP’s @AlynSmith urges MEPs to be open to independent Scottish membership of the EU after #Brexit.
“Leave a light on so we can find our way home”
👀 @donaldtusk is among those who applaud him in @Europarl_EN Strasbourg. pic.twitter.com/bySms2ZhuR
— Ross Colquhoun (@rosscolquhoun) March 27, 2019
And while Nicholas Whyte analysed exactly where the UK had gone wrong in its negotiations…
How the UK lost Brexit battle https://t.co/aqDPtN4nhd Interesting, detailed piece by @herszenhorn and @TomMcTague. Good on chronology of UK’s failure, but I think some details are missing / slightly off. This thread details the UK’s 3 biggest strategic failures as I see it. 1/9
— Nicholas Whyte 🇪🇺 (@nwbrux) March 28, 2019
German MEP Jens Geier told Darren McCaffrey that he couldn’t care less and was tired thinking about it.
We are all Jens Geier https://t.co/hSyG6Sbt0u
— Ireland / Niall (@ireland) March 28, 2019
Meanwhile, EURACTIV’s Alexandra Brzozowski pointed out that the next Brexit vote will most likely take place on April Fools Day.
Did anybody notice that the next #Brexit vote that will most likely take place on Monday coincides with #AprilFoolsDay?
— Alexandra Brzozowski (@alex_owski) March 27, 2019
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!
Parliament has adopted new rules to ensure long-standing rights and obligations of copyright law also apply to the online world. Watch the video to learn what the new rules are about ⬇ pic.twitter.com/3b9UUNu2Of
— European Parliament (@Europarl_EN) March 27, 2019
James Felton was the first to start the amusing, if somewhat time-consuming trend of writing memes out in full.
Ok picture ye this, there's a man walking & he's turned around to look at a woman with an "awww yeah I like that" face. He's got "EU" written on him. On the woman is written "Article 13". Another woman glaring at man like "what the hell" & on her is written "the entire internet".
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) March 26, 2019
While Martini Seltzermayr asked “Why’s everyone complaining about banning memes, a minute ago you wouldn’t stop complaining how awful they are.”
Why’s everyone complaining about us banning memes, a minute ago you wouldn’t stop complaining how awful they are #CopyrightDirective
— Martini Seltzermayr (@mseltzermayr) March 26, 2019
And it’s rare that I agree with Boris Johnson, but he was right in saying the new law is terrible for the internet.
The EU’s new copyright law is terrible for the internet. It’s a classic EU law to help the rich and powerful, and we should not apply it. It is a good example of how we can take back control
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 27, 2019
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…
Please stop distributing such nonsense. Leaving the EU is like leaving the internet. You can always pull the plug, but perhaps smarter to influence the content. Your ”taking back control” means moving from rule-maker to rule-taker. Sad 😢.
— Alexander Stubb (@alexstubb) March 27, 2019
That was a LOT of people. Including James Felton again who said “Your own government supported it!”
Your own government supported it when you were in government you fucking cauliflower
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) March 27, 2019
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.
A new EU law agreed this morning will require all new cars in Europe to be fitted with devices that automatically stop them from going over the speed limit.
My article for Forbes: https://t.co/PSUnbHE366
— Dave Keating (@DaveKeating) March 26, 2019
Dave Keating said he’d seen Brexiteers describing the law as an example of classic EU overreach.
Gee, and we wonder why Britain wants to leave.
— Jim O'Shaughnessy (@jposhaughnessy) March 27, 2019
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.
Yet more inaccurate reporting this morning, this is simply not true! The agreement is that the car has to alert the driver when the speed limit is broken, it can slow the car down but it doesn’t have to, and the system can be turned off or overridden. https://t.co/4xDYQNzmPr
— Daniel Dalton (@ddalton40) March 27, 2019
Unsurprisingly petrolhead boy racers like Jeremy Clarckson were unimpressed. “Cars forced to obey speed limits. Give me strength!”, he said.
The one govt announcement in the midst of all this Brexit shit, is to say cars will be forced to obey the speed limits. Give me strength.
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) March 28, 2019
But Ken Newton asked if anyone really needs the freedom to kill and injure thousands of people every year.
Does anyone really need the freedom to kill and injure thousands of people every year. Speed limits are there for a reason. Voluntary compliance has clearly failed and excess speed contributes to hundreds of deaths. This will help achieve zero road deaths.
— Ken Newton (@Redbilledchough) March 28, 2019
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.
The EU is getting rid of daylight saving time, and now countries can choose to stay on 'permanent' summer or winter time https://t.co/m1oKW32tTm pic.twitter.com/Yo41TJbueD
— Russell Marsh (@RussellMarsh) March 27, 2019
Scrapping daylight savings time is a good idea said Sam Morgan, just not the way the EU wants to do it.
Scrapping daylight savings time is a good idea. The way the EU wants to do it, is not https://t.co/pA9RZIcq8E
— Sam Morgan (@SamJamesMorgan) March 26, 2019
Iris Classon is amused at the stress this will cause developers that hard coded summertime and wintertime.
The EU has voted against continued daylight savings in 2021. Each country gets to decide which time they keep. This means countries in the same time zone can have different times. Devs that hard coded summer time/wintertime are going sweat bullets 😅
— Iris Classon (@IrisClasson) March 26, 2019
And Brexiteers, well, take one wild guess who they blamed?
Britain will have to give up summer time if we stay in single market as EU aims to dictate the time on the clocks. More Brussels meddling
— Andrew Pierce (@toryboypierce) March 27, 2019
The EU would tell us what time of day it is in the UK. Let that sink in. No more British Summer Time. https://t.co/RqB5fxx4MY
— Robert Kimbell #TimeForThePeople (@RedHotSquirrel) March 26, 2019
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.
.@CEEMET Chair & Chair of @Gesamtmetall #OliverZander invites on 2⃣April for a discussion on the #10PointPlan for a competitive #industry sustaining #socialEurope w/ #MEPs & industry reps ▶️Register on https://t.co/G4jvM03Egn #FutureofEurope #Digitalisation #EPElections2019 pic.twitter.com/coEEUotLXG
— Ceemet (@CEEMET) March 27, 2019
And that’s it for another week. Join us again next Friday for more thrills and spills in the Brussels bubble Twittersphere.
