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 AlgérienneAlgeriaMargarita Grigoryan

Executive Director

 Armenian Public TelevisionArmeniaAlexander WrabetzDirector GeneralORFAustriaBernadette WynanatsPresidentRTBFBelgium Sandra De PreterDirector GeneralVRTBelgium Radoslav Yankulov Director GeneralBNRBulgariaVyara AnkovaDirector GeneralBNTBulgariaThemis ThemistocleousDirector GeneralCyBC Cyprus Petr DvorakDirector GeneralCzech TelevisionCzech RepublicEdita KudlacovaDirector GeneralCzech RadioCzech RepublicMaria Rørbye RønnDirector General/CEODRDenmarkMargus AllikmaaDirector GeneralERREstoniaLauri KivinenChief Executive OfficerYLEFinlandRémy PflimlinPrésident Directeur GénéralFrance TélévisionFranceMarie-Christine SaragossePrésidente Directrice GénéraleRadio France InternationaleFranceGiorgi GachechiladzeDirector GeneralGeorgian Public BroadcasterGeorgiaUlrich WilhelmDirector General

ARD / Bayerischer Rundfunk 

GermanyDr Thomas BellutDirector GeneralZDFGermanyIstván Jónás Chief Executive OfficerHungarian RadioHungaryBalazs MEDVECZKYDirector General MTVHungaryPáll MagnússonDirector GeneralRUVIcelandPól ó GallchóirDirector GeneralTG4IrelandAnna Maria Tarantola
/ Luigi GubitosiPresident
/ Director General
 RAIItalia Ibrahim EL KhouryPresident Director GeneralTélé-LibanLebanonFernand WeidesDirecteur RadioERSLLuxembourgConstantin MarinPresident Teleradio MoldovaMoldovaRade VojvodicDirector General RTCG MontenegroFaïçal  LaraïchiPrésident Directeur GénéralSNRTMorocco Henk HagoortChairman Management BoardNPO NetherlandThor Gjermund EriksenDirector GeneralNRKNorwayAlf HildrumChief Executive OfficerTV2NorwayAndrzej SiezieniewskiPresident Polish RadioPolandJuliusz BraunPresident & CEOTVPPolandAlberto da PontePresident RTPPortugalOvidiu MiculescuPresident Director GeneralRomanian Radio Broadcasting CorporationRomaniaClaudiu SaftoiuPresident Director General TVRRomaniaOeg DobrodeevDirector GeneralRTRRussiaKonstantin ErnstDirector GeneralChannel OneRussiaCarlo RomeoDirector GeneralSan Marino RTVSan MarinoVaclav MikaDirector General RTVSSlovakia Marko FilliDirector GeneralRZVSloveniaLeopoldo Gonzalez EcheniqueDirector GeneralRTVESpainCilla BenköDirector GeneralSwedish RadioSwedenErik FichteliusDirector GeneralURSwedenEva HamiltonGeneral DirectorSVTSwedenGilles MarchandDirecteurRTSSwitzerlandRoger de WeckDirecteur GeneralSRG SSRSwitzerlandImen Bahroun Ben MradPrésidente Directrice GénéraleTélévision Tunisienne TunisiaTony Hall Director GeneralBBCUnited KingdomOleksandr PanteleimonovActing Director GeneralNTUUkraineTaras Avrakhov Director GeneralNational Radio CompanyUkraineFederico 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)