The Minister of State Nikos Pappas announced that the coalition government will not introduce any changes and apologize over the television licensing issue, during a heated exchange with Democratic Alignment MP Andreas Loverdos in Parliament.
Mr. Pappas underlined that there was no chance of returning to the previous status quo, adding that Greece is the only country where private television stations operated without licenses. The State Minister added that the final list of candidates for the four licenses to be auctioned will be announced by the committee in charge of the tender on the 14th of July.
The opposition MP accused the government of not receiving the European Commission’s message and claimed that the government has infringed upon the independence of independent authorities and arbitrarily decided upon four licenses for nationwide broadcasting. Mr. Loverdos accused the State Minister of “operating as a Minister of Propaganda” and claimed that “the government is not operating within a democratic framework”.
In response, the State Minister argued that Mr. Loverdos has not understood the European Commission’s message, as it has clarified that its concerns are not related to the tender itself. He concluded by stating that the greatest challenge has not been addressing the vested interests involved, but rather “the political forces that defend them for fleeting publicity”.
