The coalition government’s legislative initiatives in relation to television licensing have prompted major reactions from the opposition parties.

In its statement, New Democracy underlined that the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is operating “above the Constitution and under the table” and accused him of being the “permanent mouthpiece of divisive speech”.

New Democracy specifically argues that the bill takes away licensing from the National Council for Radio and Television (ESR) and gives it to Parliament. As such, the majority in Parliament will be able to decide “arbitrarily and repressively” who will receive one of the four nationwide broadcasting licenses.

Similarly, PASOK president Fofi Gennimata appeared on SKAI and estimated that the government’s amendment bill is against the Constitution. She further added that “it is one thing to put some order [in the media sector] and another to want to determine [it]”.