This is my official invitation
to meet The British Ambassadrix to Greece,
Kate Smith. This the second in Thessaloniki as part of the embassy nation-wide outreach program to
inform British citizens, residing in Greece, what may befall us, come Brexit. The meeting was in the City Council Conference
Room – a nice, roomy venue with good sound-system – and lasted about 90
minutes.
While our previous outreach
meeting in February was fairly up-beat, this time it was not - with more focus
on the realities that might ensue after a no-deal
Brexit which seemed more and more like a possibility. Sadly, we learned
that some GB/GR agreements which protected the rights of Brits living here, had
been rendered invalid by the present Whitehall incumbents, which bodes evil for
all us. So it seems that all the previous
behind-the-scenes negotiation has been recorded as off-point and has to be rebooted
from ground-zero!
One point that must be made is that the life-span of all British passports will be reduced by 6 months if there’s a no-deal ….deal.
So as holders of travel ID from a third country – that’s post-Brexit GB - we
cannot travel abroad in the last six months before its expiry.
Definitely not wishing to lose my
European status, I applied for Greek
citizenship in February. Although the process can take up to 4 or 5 years,
they kindly offered us a fast-track option in the light of a looming exit. I grabbed
that opportunity and had my file inspection done rapidly from then.
So here it is folks: my
date with fate has been confirmed. On December
5th, at 09.15 I shall sit before a 4-member board and hopefully demonstrate to them adequate knowledge
of Greek language, geography, history, culture, civics, etc..
Alexander the Great had an interesting
mode of racial discrimination, saying,
‘Every
good foreigner is a Greek’.
I’d love my
inquisitors to operate on that same criterion! Please wish me luck!
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