According to the new draft law to be tabled in parliament, children of migrants in Greece will have to wait longer and file a lot more paperwork in order to apply for Greek citizenship, a report published by Eleytherotypia says.

On the other hand, foreigners who intend to invest in the country will face fewer obstacles in obtaining the Greek citizenship as they will be eligible for a ‘fast-track procedure’, according to the report.

The Council of State deemed unconstitutional the law, which was passed in 2010 and which is known as the Ragousis law after former Interior Minister Yiannis Ragousis a few weeks ago. The law allows those born to immigrant parents and legally resident in Greece for five years to get citizenship if they have studied at a Greek school for at least six years.

The changes include: increase in the number of schooling for children of migrants from 6 to 9 years and the increase in the number of years of residence of their parents from 5 to 7 or 8 years. Also, naturalised Greeks will be forced to give up their first nationality.

“ I was born in Greece. I am 26 and still don’t have a Greek citizenship,” Egyptian Nerveen Awad says.

“Especially when someone is actually born in a certain country, is speaking its language as though it were one’s mother tongue, has been taught its history ever since one was a child and has set up one’s life there it always seemed logical to me that one could also choose to become an official citizen of that country, but this is not the case in Greece,” she says.

Meanwhile, nineteen migrant rights groups gathered in central Athens on Tuesday evening at a press conference hosted by the journalists’ union ESHEA to protest against the court’s recent new ruling concerning the Ragousis law, Kathimerini writes.

In a joint statement, the 19 migrant groups accused the government of “adopting a right-wing agenda” with its decision to challenge the law.

Immigrants make up 10 percent of the country’s population.

For years, up until 2010, a person’s citizenship was determined solely by his or her parents’ citizenship. Only those with blood ties to Greece could become Greek citizens.

I do not have any secret information. However, a recent development made me longing for connecting some of the dots here, using the following key words: Samaras – New Democracy– TAXI unionism – Minister Voridis.

Greek political cyberspace is full of rumors, unfounded arguments and propaganda; especially in the last couple of years, during which anti-Memorandum politics explored extreme populism as a primary weapon. Dipping into these conspiratorial terms and using common sense as a spear to penetrate the secrecy of inner party politics, we could argue that the TAXI case was a game well played. Makis Voridis, a former LAOS MP and -in the minds of many people- second in command personality in the party, grabbed TAXI case from radical (and as proven more liberal) socialist Yannis Ragousis and maneuvered it in such a way as to keep the yellow cast happy. Three facts could be relevant: first, top TAXI unionist Thymios Lymberopoulos, head of the yellow fight has been an ND cadre, active in the hierarchy of the party, kicked out by Samaras to save face during the pro-Memorandum slalom, second Voridis joined ND, in a move that made LAOS leader talking about traitorous behaviour. Then, after a while, Lyberopoulos returned and shook hands with Samaras, joining the party again.

If the dots are connected right, then in-camera negotiations at the Maximos Mansion included a far more complex and multi-facet agenda, much of which referred to domestic partisan affairs, with party leaders negotiating the day after. Perhaps this could explain long nights and bizarre delays that exhausted foreign media correspondents and Greek citizens alike.

The recent TAXI bill caused zero reaction by the yellow mass, keeping the protectionism in effect. Well, this was the case until common sense kicked in and European Commission decided to put the record straight. “I could say that Greece is preparing for elections, but the law on taxis must be reviewed by the supervisory Troika,” said Amadeu Altafaj, the spokesman for the EU Commissioner for Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn, ridiculing local magicians.

A couple of more incidents of travesty structural changes and EU Commissioners will offer to take control of the ministries, especially until the ballot boxes are closed on May 6 or any Sunday that will be declared as D-day when the negotiations are over.

It seems that the political cast in Greece does not voluntarily learn their lessons. Now, perhaps they should do themselves a favour and rethink their obsolete strategies, since a crash course on social responsibility could be profoundly painful; especially in a pre-election period, no matter how many tricks of the trade will be employed to raise the percentages.