The European Commission views Greece’s new media law “in a positive light” says a news report by Euractiv. The report explores hte controversy surrounding the new law on granting television channels licences in Greece. Opposition parties are suspicious of the government’s move.

An EU spokesman said that it is up to individual member states to set procedures for the granting of content licenses for TV channels as this has not been harmonized at an EU level. The bailout agreement (Member of Understanding) ensured the Grek government’s commitment to launching an international tender for the acquisition of TV licenses and use related fees as a potential measure to meet fiscal targets.

Hence, the reference is related to fiscal impact.The European Commission had released a report in the fall concerning the erosion of press freedom in Greece since the start of the Greek crisis dropping from 31st in 173 countries in the World Press Freedom Index in 2008 to 91st out of 180 countries on a global level in 2015.

“Greece is the only EU country that has never launched any licensing process for private TV channels for 25 years, maintaining the lawless regime of temporary licenses,” said the EU official.