Loverdos

Revelations by the vice-President of the parliamentary committee on media and political financing, and ANEL MP Dimitris Kammenos that “an invisible hand” had tampered with the committee’s finding to present newspaper “Proto Thema” in a bad light, has caused a political storm, with

MP of the Democratic Alignment party Andreas Loverdos labeled Greek PM Alexis Tsipras “an autocratic populist” for personally attacking Themos Anastasiadis, one of the two publishers of weekly newspaper Proto Thema.

Democratic Alignment’s MPs have brought the case of minister Olga Gerovasili in the Parliament with an official question they submitted today.

In their question they are asking for all the relevant documents and contracts that the minister have signed with the State and they ask the ministers of Health and Economics if these contracts will be canceled or not.

An Athens court on Friday exonerated 11 HIV positive women, three of whom have died, of the charge of intentionally infecting people while allegedly working as prostitutes.

The prosecutor at the trial said there was no evidence to suggest the women worked as prostitutes nor that they had unprotected sex with people, with the exception one of the defendants.

During today’s press briefing, the Minister of State and government spokesman was asked by Avgi reporter Andreas Loverdos, Democratic Alignment MP, about Proto Thema’s Sunday publication.

State Minister Nikos Pappas has come under attack from the opposition after submitting and then withdrawing draft legislation late on Friday that would have forced TV channels which did not gain a license during the recent auction to close within five days of a ministerial decision on the matter.

The creation of a new Greek National Radio and Television Council (NCRTV – ESR) to act as an independent administrative authority to supervise and regulate the media market is currently at a deadlock while vagueness prevails following claims of Turkish business interests to bombard Greek radio frequencies.

The atmosphere was tense when Greek lawmakers met to discuss the new media licensing law on Friday morning. Discussion on the modifications submitted by the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government on Thursday evening met with disagreement over the way in which the number of channels will be defined.

Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras managed to secure an appointment for his wife, Peristera Baziana, just a day prior to his resignation as prime minister reports Demokratia newspaper. His wife was appointed as a technology teacher.

PASOK will on Friday launch a three-day conference to discuss its next steps ahead of elections for a new leader to replace Evangelos Venizelos on June 14.

Candidates for the job are Fofi Gennimata, Andreas Loverdos and Odysseas Konstantinopoulos. Venizelos has said he will not run for a fresh term.