They still want 2000 hours on jets over 55000kg's. They have a way yet to lower the standards even more before you start running into the levels of experience that will cause accidents. Even if the guy has only 2000 hours total time, with proper background the guy will make a fine F/O. Lets not get melodramatic for the sake of trolling.
It is nice to see them offering to pay the flight over for an interview now, one of the reasons i didn't apply to Emirates was i wasn't about to pay for a flight from Canada to the ME and back just to do an interview for a job i may or may not get. If they had paid for flights back then, i likely would have been interested in applying. It's a step in the right direction anyway, and likely due to the number of pilots Emirates requires.