Greece has unilaterally decided to exempt British passport holders from biometric registration at border crossings. The new EU Entry/Exit System (EES), which introduces fingerprinting and facial scanning for all non-EU citizens, created chaos at airports across Europe - and Athens pulled the emergency brake before tourist season.

The decision takes effect this weekend. British tourists, among the most numerous visitors to Greek islands, will not go through the lengthy biometric procedures that caused queues at other European airports. Greece simply decided that tourism matters more than bureaucracy.

For Macedonians traveling to Greece via Evzoni, this changes little for now - we are in the process of joining the EU and our border treatment depends on bilateral agreements. But the Greek decision is symptomatic: when the system creates problems, countries react with ad hoc solutions instead of fixing the system. Sound familiar?