How on earth will I manage to find something to be cynical about this?
Greece has awarded citizenship to three migrant fishermen – two Egyptians and an Albanian – who rescued Greeks from a devastating fire near Athens last July.
At a ceremony the Greek President, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, thanked the fishermen for showing “solidarity and humanity” by rescuing dozens of people.
“You are now European citizens too, and so you can teach all our partners who don’t realise the values of Europe, to do what they ought to do,” he said.
Bills Opinion
The three men did a great thing and deserved a reward.
The problem is, the Greeks have just indicated to the market that the price of a European passport is to heroically save a life from a fire.
Most illegal immigrants won’t do anything malicious based on this price signal.
There will be some who will, however. My prediction is that there will be at least one fire set simply to enable an illegal immigrant so “save” a life. Let’s hope nobody dies as a consequence.
Doesn’t matter if someone, or even how many, die in a fire, provided the arsonist, I mean, citizenship applicant, saves someone.
If nobody is saved is when it becomes inconvenient, as another fire will have to be lit.