Today the International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and UNI Global
Union Media Entertainment & Arts (UNI-MEI), together with their member organisations
in Belgium, expressed their solidarity with the Greek journalists, media workers
and citizens who are fighting for the independence of the public media in Greece
and resist the closure of the public broadcaster ERT.
At a rally outside the Greek Embassy in, Brussels,
Belgium, the organisations applauded the hard work and spirit of Greek journalists, media
workers and unions and called on Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, to reverse
this incomprehensible and dangerous decision immediately. IFJ/EFJ and UNI have called for ERT to go
back on the air and the rights of the journalists and media workers respected.
Any reform of the ERT needs to be based on dialogue with the workers and their
representative organisations.
IFJ
General Secretary, Beth Costa, said: "This decision is simply absurd. It is a major blow to democracy, to media pluralism and to journalism as a public
good in Greece, depriving citizens of their right to level-headed and unbiased information. What happened to the staff from ERT breaks our hearts, it makes us angry but most of all makes
us determined to stand alongside them to call for this decision to be reversed."
UNI Europa, Regional Secretary,
Oliver Roethig said "Greece needs ERT, Greek citizens
need ERT, and most importantly, Greek democracy needs ERT. It is unacceptable
that a pillar of media democracy and cultural diversity in the European and
international audiovisual landscapes is forced to close as a response to the EU
and Troika's demands to meet the goals of a failed austerity policy."
Luc Vandenhoeck, General Sceretary of ACOD-VRT, the media workers union at the
Belgium Broadcaster VRT said "All our unions stand in solidarity with
colleagues at ERT and citizens in Greece. This is a call for resistance to the diktat of the Troika and colleagues
across the world will continue to take actions to help defend public service
broadcasting in Greece."
For more information, please contact IFJ on + 32 2 235 22 17
The IFJ represents more than 600.000 journalists in 134
countries
UNI MEI: www.uniglobalunion.org/mei
UNI MEI represents 140 unions and guilds and 300 000 workers in the media and
entertainment industries in over 70 countries worldwide