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Tweets of the Week: Brexit, copyright, and valentines

By Amanda Lee, Evan Lamos and Jennifer Baker | EURACTIV.com

15-02-2019

Roses are red, violets are blue,
This week it’s Brexit, copyright and lazy rhymes too.

This week we are supported by the European Parliament.

Worried about Brexit? Have a sense of humour? Dutch? Then let me introduce to the Dutch government’s official Brexit muppet… yes really!

Cruelling overlooking the EU’s own fuzzy monster.

The large blue muppet is part of a campaign to encourage Dutch companies to prepare for all Brexit scenarios.

The Dutch have basically said that 17.4 million Brits voted for the mongrel bipedal offspring of a big brush and a car wash roller, said James Crisp. Adding if this is what they picked, he’d love to see the rejected designs.

Staying with Dutch Brexit news, in a simultaneous speech, Nick Gutteridge reported that it was brutal stuff from Dutch PM Rutte who said that Brexit will leave the UK a weakened middling economy stuck out in the Atlantic on its own.

And this is supposed to be the UK’s most sympathetic friend in Europe, Dave Keating added.

Danny Kemp reported that the monster has its own LinkedIn page, but not a proper name.

And we couldn’t let this week go without pointing out someone else having trouble with names as Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay meets with European Commission President Jean-Paul Junker.

Meanwhile in Strasbourg this week, after several misfires and re-starts, an agreement was finally reached on copyright reform, reported Sam Stolton.

Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda says this will need lessly stoke resentment against the EU by ignoring young voters.

ALDE MEP Marietje Schaake was also deeply disappointed.

However, Rapporteur Axel Voss and other conservative MEPs were pleased.

And the Commission’s Digital Vice President Andrus Ansip argued whoever said we were banning memes, was trying to fool you.

Sanna Wolk helpfully explained that anyone who thinks copyright is boring has not been involved in the negotiations: Subterfuge, loaded comments, tense expressions.

This file had it all. And it was long… boy was it long! 2 and a half years, 10 trilogues, 52 shadow meetings and 18 technical meetings.

But spare a thought for reporter Laura Kayali who was almost past caring!

Finally yesterday was Valentine’s Day. As if any social media user could miss it with the deluge of shhh… I mean…  beautiful, heartfelt poetry.

Peter Spiegel set the tone:

Roses are red, but Rome’s in a frenzy
Did anyone vote for Monti, Letta or Renzi?

Sjoerd Douma followed suit

The planet is hot and so are you!
Should we keep it that way or tax CO2?

NNFCC:

Roses are red, violets are blue,
Poetic structure is less important than implementing a biobased, circular economy across the UK, EU, and beyond.

Ok, perhaps American EU Dude had the right idea in hitting the mute button!

So let’s have a quick look at some not so happy couples.

Guy Verhofstadt gave British MP Kate Hoey some serious burn after she called him an “unelected bureaucrat” saying “Thanks for the feedback. Actually, I was elected by my constituents with over 500k votes.”

And tension between Parliament President Antonio Tajani and Commissioner Violeta Bulc certainly ratcheted up after the latter made some pretty tone deaf comments about Croatia and Bulc’s own Slovenia that were interpreted as an Italian claim on territory.

Doh!… just when we’d sorted out North Macedonia!

That’s it for this week, join me again next week for more good bad and ugly in the Brussels Bubble Twittersphere.

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