Tweets of the Week: May in Salzburg, Salvini vs. Asselborn, and Macron merchandise

This week, in Salzburg Theresa May makes a splash, on migration Asselborn and Salvini clash, and Macron’s rolling in merchandise cash.

This week we are supported by the European Copper Institute. More about them at the end.

This week it was all eyes on Salzburg as EU leaders gathered for an informal council meeting to discuss migration, internal security and of course, Brexit.

Despite being given only 10 minutes to plead her case, British Prime Minister Theresa May made all the headlines by saying she was willing to walk away without a deal.

May ruled out extending Article 50 saying: “We all recognise that time is short but extending or delaying these negotiations is not an option” reported Darren McCaffrey. 

In happier scenes, Danny Kemp reckoned Tusk was finally going for the cake and cherries joke

Max Hofmann summed up the summit saying a November summit on Brexit was confirmed, Egypt is the new hope for “disembarkation platforms” according to Juncker and the mood seems to be significantly better than in recent past.

Bad news for Berlaymonster and his hope to use an “Insultzburg” headline.

But The Irish Border account reckons Mozart remains the best thing to come out of Salzburg

Elsewhere a war of words erupted between Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and Luxembourgish Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.

At a meeting on migration last Friday Salvini said “In Italy there’s the need to help our youth to have kids, not to have new slaves to replace children we’re not having.”

To which Asselborn retorted “In Luxembourg we have Italian migrants who worked so you had money to pay for your children. Merde alors!”

The Twittersphere was pretty evenly split between those supporting Salvini’s “truth bomb” and those praising Asselborn

For, in the words of one Twitter user, “speaking out against this madman. Italy does not deserve this vile man as vice president. Fascism is back, and it’s very, very ugly.”

Euractiv’s Sam Morgan got busy on photoshop… hopefully Asselborn will wear it on a t-shirt next time he sees Salvini

Meanwhile, the African Union, yup, the entire continent, has demanded an apology from Salvini for comparing African immigrants to slaves.

Finally want a get rich quick scheme? Stick Emmanuel Macron’s face on a T-shirt and boom!

The Elysee Palace gift shop launched a new range of Macron-branded souvenirs and made €350,000 in just 3 days!

The gift shop, which is also available online, sells €55 T-shirts and €250 gold bracelets.

As well as colouring books of the Macrons and their dog!

Guardian writer Pauline Bock was unimpressed saying “Macron merchandise takes the French for mugs”

 

Mimi Pinson says he’s more “bling” than Sarkozy

But Paul Dallison said the real tragedy is that the sweet delicacies are not called “Macron’s macarons.”

This week we are sponsored by European Copper. This #EUGreenWeek, find out how copper helps cities become more sustainable and smarter by following the hashtag #ThinkCopper 

And that’s it for this week! Join me again next Friday for more snarks and larks in the Brussels Bubble Twittersphere.