While still ignoring a court order to restore the signal of the state broadcaster ERT which he summarily switched off on June 11, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will have another round of urgent talks on June 19 with his coalition partners, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis of Democratic Left (DIMAR) who have opposed the move.
Samaras, the New Democracy Conservative leader, hopes to mend a rift with his partners who had said they would withhold their parties’ crucial votes when the Parliament would convene to decide whether to ratify Samaras’ decision to close ERT until a new, slimmed-down version could begin operation later in the summer.
Samaras’ aides had reportedly been working on proposals that would avert the risk of snap elections by restoring the signal of the state broadcaster – which the two coalition partners have strenuously demanded – without going back on pledges to foreign creditors for permanent layoffs in the civil service.
Preliminary reports said that Samaras was ready to agree to rehire all 2,656 fired ERT workers – but only for two months – until the replacement station, NERIT, gets up and running with between 1000-1200 workers chosen from the existing staff. It was hoped that compromise would satisfy Kouvelis and Venizelos who had been insisting on no firings.
It had also been reported that Samaras turned to this choice after initially saying he would bring back only 30-100 workers to run news programs to comply with the court order which said ERT had to be resumed until he the government could complete the task of getting NERIT going. Venizelos and Kouvelis reportedly nixed the idea of only a skeleton staff for now.
The Council of State decision was being interpreted differently by opposing sides as it said the government had the right to close ERT but not cut the broadcaster’s signal, a contradiction in terms under which the station legally could be shut down but had to remain open.
Kouvelis was said to be furious with Samaras for refusing to reopen ERT following the ruling, deeming this a “direct provocation.” “As long as ERT remains closed, the risk of early elections remains and is the exclusive responsibility of the premier,” a DIMAR official said. “I hope those handling the situation are sensible,” said former Premier Costas Simitis.
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