ATHENS: A Greek court ruled that shuttered state broadcaster ERT must reopen immediately, a court official said yesterday, offering the squabbling ruling coalition a way out of a political crisis over the station’s abrupt closure.
The ruling — which ordered ERT switched back on until a restructured public broadcaster is launched — came six days after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras took it off air in the name of austerity. The ruling appeared to vindicate Samaras’s stance that a leaner, cheaper public broadcaster must be set up but also allowed for ERT’s immediate reopening as his coalition partners had demanded, offering all three a way out of an impasse that had raised the spectre of snap polls.
A live feed of ERT — whose journalists have continued broadcasting over the Internet in defiance of orders — showed workers breaking into applause on hearing the court ruling. REUTERS
