A new bill concerning the Greek media was voted into law by the Greek Parliament late on Thursday night with 154 votes of the ruling coalition parties – SYRIZA and Independent Greeks (ANEL) – and the vote of independent deputy Nikos Nikolopoulos. One hundred members of the opposition parties voted against the law while 30 deputies were absent.
The new law allows only for four national TV stations to be operating in Greece, while currently there are seven, threatened to have their licences taken away.
In his address preceding the vote, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that discussions over a bill on broadcast licensing shows who really wants to put the country’s broadcasting landscape in order and who is trying to block the government from moving ahead with its commitments.
“This will give Greek people the opportunity to draw their own conclusions,” he said, adding that “we’ve been listening for years to the phrase ‘vested interests’, but now it’s time to explain the term and how to deal with it.”
The government has announced it will launch and oversee a tender for four nationwide TV licenses, drawing criticism from the opposition which objects to the number saying they are too few.
Tsipras slammed the opposition parties, saying they covered up the impunity of the unlicensed media for 27 years, and are still doing so. He also said that voters gave the government a clear mandate to clash with the vested interests, the status quo, and corruption.
“Now, for all those who were living like parasites and sucking all the power of Greek society, it’s time to give their explanations and go through the cash register to pay their taxes; along with those who have send their untaxed money abroad,” he said, noting that in three parliamentary sessions, New Democracy said it doesn’t want a tender for broadcasting licenses.
(source: ana-mpa)
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