Griekse nationale omroep veroordeelt bezuiniging (en)

BRUSSELS - Greek state broadcaster the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) stayed on the airwaves on Wednesday (12 June), defying plans by the leading party in the country's coalition government to close it down.

ERT journalists continued to work from their studios, broadcasting programmes on the Internet, with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) retransmitting them via satellite.

Spanish channel TVE and a Greek Communist-Party-owned broadcaster, 902, also broadcast ERT material for a limited time.

Meanwhile, protestors gathered outside the Greek embassy in Brussels on Wednesday evening, while other demonstrations took place in London, Paris and Rome.

The network was taken off the air shortly after 11pm on Tuesday night in the latest chapter of the country's financial crisis.

The Greek government used a ministerial decree, which has since been signed by President Karolos Papoulias to end ERT’s transmissions, leaving citizens sitting in front of black screens.

ERT, which is funded by a levy added to people's utility bills, ran three domestic TV channels, four national radio stations, as well as a string of regional radio stations and an overseas channel.

The government has sacked all 2,500 ERT employees, but revealed plans to reopen the company within two months as an independent broadcaster with 1,200 staff.

"We tried during the past year to find a way of overhauling public television but it wasn't possible to change anything," Simos Kedikoglou, a government spokesman, told reporters.

Under the Greek constitution, the parliament will be required to debate and validate the decree within 40 days.

As part of the terms of its bailout agreement, Greece is required to lay off 15,000 public sector workers by 2015.

The European Commission categorically denied any knowledge or involvement in the decision, however.

Its spokesman Olivier Bailly told reporters that the EU's executive arm had "learnt about this yesterday evening at the same time as everyone else."

He added: "The specific situation of ERT was never discussed with the commission or the Troika [a group of officials from Greece's international creditors]."

A written commission statement noted that "the decision of the Greek authorities should be seen in the context of the major and necessary efforts that the authorities are taking to modernise the Greek economy."

Aside from the centre-right New Democracy faction, which leads the coalition government, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn is the only other party to have openly supported the closure.

The centre-left Pasok and DMAR parties both said they had not been consulted.

For his part, Greek Green MEP Nikos Chrysogelos commented that the closure "brings back memories from a darker period in Greek history."

"It should be inconceivable that a democratic state could shut down a public broadcaster with no prior dialogue," he said.