Former Supreme Court prosecutor appointed to head broadcasting watchdog
A former Supreme Court prosecutor, Efterpi Koutzamani, was appointed on Thursday to head the National Radio and Television Council (ESR) during a meeting of the Conference of Presidents, the parliamentary body responsible for electing the leadership of Greece’s independent agencies.
Koutzamani was elected with a majority of 16 – out of 27 – votes from governing New Democracy and from Greek Solution.
SYRIZA, PASOK and the other parties of the opposition (with the exception of communist KKE, which voted “present”) opposed her appointment. They have also accused the government of striking a deal with Greek Solution to get the appointment passed in exchange for a writeoff of a fine against the junior party’s chief, Kyriakos Velopoulos, over content he has broadcast on television in the past.
The Conference of Presidents appointed journalist Yannis Politis to serve as the ESR’s vice president.
