The signatories (complete list below) , which include the directors general of all of Europe’s most important public service media organizations, universally condemn the Greek government’s “undemocratic and unprofessional” course of action, which “undermines the existence of public service media in Greece”.
The statement, to which the directors general, presidents and chief executive officers, as well as several heads of international relations, have put their names, reads as follows:
ERT MUST BE RESTORED TO AIR!
“We, as Directors General of Europe’s public broadcasters, express our profound dismay at the action taken by the Greek Government on Tuesday, 11 June in shutting down ERT with immediate effect.
This undemocratic and unprofessional action of the Greek government undermines the existence of public service media in Greece and its independence from the government.
For that reason, we strongly urge the Greek Prime Minister to immediately reverse this decision, allowing ERT to go back on the air in Greece and we wholeheartedly support the open letter sent by the EBU President and Director General on 11 June 2013.”
Having collected the signatures in less than 24 hours, the EBU leadership has now sent the document to the Greek Government in a second letter urging Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to revoke the closure decree, while in addition appealing for at least one ERT TV channel to be left on air.
On Tuesday evening (June 11) EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot and Director General Ingrid Deltenre wrote an open letter to Mr Samaras urging him to see sense and pointing out that “public service media and their independence from Government lie at the heart of democratic societies”.
The move followed an emergency EBU Executive Board session held on Wednesday.
COMPLETE LIST OF SIGNATORIES

Chabane LounakelDirecteur GeneralRadio AlgérienneAlgeria

Margarita Grigoryan
Executive Director
Armenian Public TelevisionArmenia

Alexander WrabetzDirector GeneralORFAustria

Bernadette WynanatsPresidentRTBFBelgium

Sandra De PreterDirector GeneralVRTBelgium

Radoslav Yankulov Director GeneralBNRBulgaria

Vyara AnkovaDirector GeneralBNTBulgaria

Themis ThemistocleousDirector GeneralCyBC Cyprus

Petr DvorakDirector GeneralCzech TelevisionCzech Republic

Edita KudlacovaDirector GeneralCzech RadioCzech Republic

Maria Rørbye RønnDirector General/CEODRDenmark

Margus AllikmaaDirector GeneralERREstonia

Lauri KivinenChief Executive OfficerYLEFinland

Rémy PflimlinPrésident Directeur GénéralFrance TélévisionFrance

Marie-Christine SaragossePrésidente Directrice GénéraleRadio France InternationaleFrance

Giorgi GachechiladzeDirector GeneralGeorgian Public BroadcasterGeorgia

Ulrich WilhelmDirector General
ARD / Bayerischer Rundfunk
Germany

Dr Thomas BellutDirector GeneralZDFGermany

István Jónás Chief Executive OfficerHungarian RadioHungary

Balazs MEDVECZKYDirector General MTVHungary

Páll MagnússonDirector GeneralRUVIceland

Pól ó GallchóirDirector GeneralTG4Ireland

Anna Maria Tarantola
/ Luigi GubitosiPresident
/ Director General
RAIItalia

Ibrahim EL KhouryPresident Director GeneralTélé-LibanLebanon

Fernand WeidesDirecteur RadioERSLLuxembourg

Constantin MarinPresident Teleradio MoldovaMoldova

Rade VojvodicDirector General RTCG Montenegro

Faïçal LaraïchiPrésident Directeur GénéralSNRTMorocco

Henk HagoortChairman Management BoardNPO Netherland

Thor Gjermund EriksenDirector GeneralNRKNorway

Alf HildrumChief Executive OfficerTV2Norway

Andrzej SiezieniewskiPresident Polish RadioPoland

Juliusz BraunPresident & CEOTVPPoland

Alberto da PontePresident RTPPortugal

Ovidiu MiculescuPresident Director GeneralRomanian Radio Broadcasting CorporationRomania

Claudiu SaftoiuPresident Director General TVRRomania

Oeg DobrodeevDirector GeneralRTRRussia

Konstantin ErnstDirector GeneralChannel OneRussia

Carlo RomeoDirector GeneralSan Marino RTVSan Marino

Vaclav MikaDirector General RTVSSlovakia

Marko FilliDirector GeneralRZVSlovenia

Leopoldo Gonzalez EcheniqueDirector GeneralRTVESpain

Cilla BenköDirector GeneralSwedish RadioSweden

Erik FichteliusDirector GeneralURSweden

Eva HamiltonGeneral DirectorSVTSweden

Gilles MarchandDirecteurRTSSwitzerland

Roger de WeckDirecteur GeneralSRG SSRSwitzerland

Imen Bahroun Ben MradPrésidente Directrice GénéraleTélévision Tunisienne Tunisia

Tony Hall Director GeneralBBCUnited Kingdom

Oleksandr PanteleimonovActing Director GeneralNTUUkraine

Taras Avrakhov Director GeneralNational Radio CompanyUkraine

Federico Lombardi S.I.General DirectorVatican RadioVatican City State

Ingrid Deltenre (EBU Director General)
Supported by the eleven members of the EBU Executive Board:
Jean-Paul PHILIPPOT (President - RTBF)
Claudio CAPPON (Vice-President - RAI)
Cecilia BENKÖ (SR)
Petr FEDOROV (RTR)
Faiçal Rachid LARÏCHI (SNRT)
Roger MOSEY (BBC)
Remy PFLIMLIN (FT)Andrzej SIEZIENIEWSKI (PR)
Themis THEMISTOCLEOUS (CyBC)
Ulrich WILHELM (BR/ARD)
Alexander WRABETZ (ORF)