The charred skeleton of a high rise in Antwerp belches smoke into a grey Belgian sky, and with it, the last shreds of credibility belonging to EU fire safety standards. Six souls have been extinguished, their lives snuffed out like cheap candles in a drafty church. The cause of the blaze remains a mystery, though one suspects it was started by sheer bureaucratic incompetence spontaneously combusting.
Indeed, Brussels has been igniting our ire for years, but now its indifference has produced literal flames. The building, a towering monument to cost cutting and regulatory oversight, was reportedly a ticking time bomb wrapped in cladding. But who needs fire safety when you have committees?
Who needs sprinklers when you have endless directives? The EU will likely respond with a strongly worded memorandum and a working group on conflagration. Perhaps they will issue a commemorative stamp.
Meanwhile, six families are left with nothing but ash and anger. One can only hope the inquiry will be as swift and thorough as the evacuation was. Which is to say, not at all.
