The Greek State Council, the highest administrative court in the country, has temporarily overturned the government’s decision to close the public broadcaster ERT.
Following a complaint from the ERT union regarding the government’s unexpected decision to shut down the broadcasting signal made a week ago, the State Council is demanding that the relevant ministers do everything possible to ensure the resumption of ‘temporary’ operations of public television, a judicial source said.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has again proposed to his coalition partners in the government that the broadcaster begin operations under the supervision of a committee from the three ruling parties, which would serve as a transitional solution. According to this proposal, a number of journalists would be employed to restart public broadcasting until a new draft law on the public audiovisual sector is adopted. Advisors from abroad, including the BBC and other European groups, will assist in establishing this new institution, the source emphasized.
On Monday evening, a meeting between Samaras and the leaders of PASOK (socialists), Evangelos Venizelos, and Dimar (democratic left), Fotis Kouvelis, was still ongoing in an effort to find a solution and exit the deadlock caused by the closure of ERT.
For the seventh consecutive day, protests against the closure of ERT have been taking place in front of the television building and in Syntagma Square, across from parliament, where opposition leader Alexis Tsipras stated that this decision, made without prior notice and agreement with coalition partners, would be the ‘swan song’ of Samaras’s government.
Today, the European Association of Public Service Broadcasters of Southeast Europe also criticized the Greek government and called for the resumption of public television.
