Minister of State says if CoS rules against TV law, old status quo will return

Claims he and SYRIZA government were victims of “TV deep state” in the past

Greek Minister of State, Nikos Pappas, said that if the TV license law was ruled anti-constitutional by the country’s Supreme Court (CoS), the media landscape would return to its pervious state of television stations operating without licenses. In an interview to state broadcaster ERT, Pappas, who had introduced the current law being examined by the CoS, added that the court had not yet passed judgement on whether the law opposed the constitution. Commenting on views expressed by main opposition party New Democracy on the issue, Pappas said it was “trapped” in its own decision to abstain from cooperating on forming the new National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV). The Minister claimed that judges were being pressured by business interests. “News bulletins are not dealing with informing the public, but rather with defending the interests of businesspeople”, he underlined, adding that the problem with ND was it appeared as a mouthpiece of these interests. He claimed that in the past there had been a “television deep state”, as he and his government had been victims of its attacks. He made it clear that he did not intend to reintroduce the amendments withdrawn on Friday before efforts for the formation of a new NCRTV had been exhausted.