Journalists refuse to leave suspended Greek broadcaster

Journalists fired from Greece’s state TV and radio have refused to leave the broadcaster’s headquarters, continuing internet programming as the country’s conservative-led government faced political crisis a year after taking office.

State TV and radio signals were cut early today after the government closed the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp, ERT, and fired its 2,500 workers, citing the need to cut “incredible waste” as the bailed out country endures a sixth year of recession.

But thousands of protesters remained outside ERT’s giant headquarters in Aghia Paraskevi, north of Athens, through the night as journalists continued a live broadcast which was streamed online.

Journalist unions called a 24-hour strike, halting private television news programmes, while the government’s centre-left coalition partners demanded that ERT’s closure be reversed

A government spokesman had described ERT as a “haven of waste” and said its 2,500 employees would be compensated and the company would reopen “as soon as possible” with a smaller workforce.

“ERT is a typical example of unique lack of transparency and incredible waste. And that ends today,” he said. “It costs three to seven times as much as other TV stations and four to six times the personnel — for a very small viewership, about half that of an average private station.”

It is the first case of mass public sector layoffs in the recession-mired country, which has pledged to cut 15,000 state jobs by 2015 as part of its bailout commitments.

Greece has depended on rescue loans from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund since May 2010. In exchange, it imposed deeply resented income cuts and tax hikes, which exacerbated a crippling recession and forced tens of thousands of businesses to close, sending unemployment to a record 27%.

Greece’s POESY media union accused the government of sacrificing the broadcaster to appease its creditors. “Bailout creditors are demanding civil service layoffs and the government, in order to meet its obligations toward foreign monitors, is prepared to sacrifice the public broadcasting corporation,” it said.

Conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras faces stern opposition from his coalition partners - the Socialist Pasok and Democratic Left party - for the decision.

The executive order to shut it down must be ratified by parliament within three months but cannot be approved without backing from the minority coalition MPs.

Left-wing opposition leader Alexis Tsipras slammed the closure as “illegal” during an interview on ERT’s online broadcast.

“Many times the word ‘coup’ is used as an exaggeration,” he said. “In this case, it is not an exaggeration.”

Ms Tsipras said he would meet president Karolos Papoulias later today and ask him to cancel an executive order he signed allowing the government to close ERT.

The decision was announced during an inspection in Athens by officials from Greece’s bailout creditors. The so-called “troika” of the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund has been pressing the government to start a long-delayed program to fire civil servants.

The surprise closure of ERT is one of the biggest crises to afflict the three-party coalition government since it was formed nearly a year ago.

Despite tensions over a number of issues, notably related to the austerity measures demanded by international creditors, the coalition government has surprised many by surviving. It has also been credited with stabilising the bailed-out Greek economy and easing the threat of an exit from the euro. Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou promised yesterday to reopen ERT at an unspecified later date, but is facing growing protest in Greece and abroad.

Greece’s largest unions, the GSEE and the civil servants’ ADEDY, began emergency meetings to decide on likely strikes in response to the ERT developments.

PA