An aide for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there hadn’t been any recent contact with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras but that she said the closing of Greece’s national broadcaster ERT was his doing and she had no input.
Merkel, whose country is footing a big chunk of bailouts for Greece through international lenders, has kept her foot on Greece’s neck by insisting on continued austerity measures but her aide said she didn’t specific what agencies had to be closed.
“Of course this has been associated within the framework of the agreed to job cuts in the public sector, but this measure was not discussed with the German government and the troika, but thus was taken by the Greek government,” the German statement said.
SPD Chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrück said he believed closing the broadcaster was a threat to democracy. During a press conference to the foreign correspondents in Berlin,he said that during his visit to Athens, last February, he found a great responsibility coming from the Greek state over the tripartite government and warned that if the country was to be led to new elections, things would get very difficult for Greece.
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