Brussels, 14/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was being pushed to the limit on Friday 14 June after a unilateral decision three days earlier to close down the country's public broadcasting organisation, ERT, to carry out its restructuring.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) joined in the slinging of shots with the employees of ERT, which continued to broadcast despite the government's call for closure. Initially available on the internet, ERT programmes have since Thursday evening also been broadcast by satellite, thanks to EBU's intervention. On Friday at midday, Jean Paul Philippot, its president, was in Athens to express his support. During a press conference from the ERT premises, Philippot said he planned to forward a letter to the Greek finance minister, Yannis Stournaras, that afternoon, signed by 51 directors of European public broadcasting channels, calling for the “closure decision to be reversed”. He acknowledged that “in times of crisis, every public body has to make efforts and savings, but here we're not talking about saving but about cutting a signal”. The priority, as he sees it, is to restore the signal and to set in place a “strong, independent, pluralist, transparent and sustainable” public television.
Although the European Commission has noted the decision taken by the Greek authorities, the European Parliament has urged Athens to review its decision. In a letter addressed to Samaras, EP President Martin Schulz, who is aware that member states have responsibility in this field, expressed his “surprise and regret” at the decision to shut down ERT without “prior notice or democratic debate within the government, the Hellenic parliament and the stakeholders”. He therefore calls upon the Greek government to propose an alternative, allowing restructuring of ERT during which time ERT would remain operational.
On Friday, Samaras nonetheless stated that closure of the ERT signal was a necessary step in order to create a new public body. The governing coalition partners do not support Samaras in this decision. In order to avoid a political crisis, the three parties are to meet on Monday morning. On Friday, the working group on the euro at the Council of the EU approved the payment to Athens of a tranche of €3.3 billion in aid. “The ERT shutdown certainly helped”, a source from the Greek Ministry of Finance told Reuters. (EL/transl.jl)