After my post earlier today about arsonist immigrants being caught in Greece, I saw that Instapundit had linked to this article from Legal Insurrection: "Authorities Arrest 79 Suspected Arsonists for Igniting Wildfires in Greece." The article begins:
As disaster response crews, cadaver dogs, and coroners continue to dig through the incinerated rubble of Western Maui, attention is now turning to the massive wildfires burning in Greece that have already claimed 20 lives.
The fact that 79 suspected arsonists have been arrested in connection to these wildfires will make it difficult to explain this away as “climate change.”
Some of those killed by the wild fires were immigrants, and it would not surprise me if some of the fires were the result of illegal aliens letting cooking fires get out of hand. But the article also goes on to describe a peculiarity of Greek law which makes setting forest fires profitable for land developers:
Does Greece’s problematic historical development contribute to this particular type of disaster? The short answer is yes, it does. The explanation for how areas of Greece burst into flame each year is not simply a question of poor ecological management, building standards, fire prevention and firefighting capabilities. This explanation rests with the law and its enforcement.
In Greece, there is a lot of unused land classed as agricultural or forest. Greece has a complex, antiquated and incomplete legal land title system, where efforts to create a land registry (or cadastre) have been ongoing since the early 2000s and are still not even close to completion. Add in the pervasive corruption of land registry offices, forestry commissions and relevant state administration, and what you get is an opportunity for real estate development.
In western Europe, it is generally not possible to build without first obtaining appropriate permits. Those who try to do so without permission are frequently discovered, stopped, fined, and even forced to alter or demolish what they’ve built. The severe legal and financial implications of building illegally makes this only a very limited problem.
In Greece, however, you could clear up a bit of brushland or cut down a section of forest, put down the foundation for a building, connect utilities by bribing local officials, and then wait for the amnesty for illegal buildings that tends to come around periodically, usually close to a general election. ...
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