Kassandra returns to the broadcast TV licensing issue in Greece, after the government as just completed the licensing procedure for nationwide licenses. For the next ten years, there will only be four private channels allowed to broadcast news in Greece. The question is, why is the EU’s defender of the Rule of Law, First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, staying silent on such a blatant attack on media pluralism, when for the case of Poland’s quest to exert more control over state media all hell broke loose? The government auctioned off just four licenses, i n a move that goes against not just the principles of free speech, but also media pluralism, whose basic premise is that all those who fulfill certain criteria can participate in the market.

An EU Commission staff working document on media pluralism in the EU analysed the media landscape in all the member states in 2007. There was no single country with a market-limit of number of licenses.

The government has mandated that the four licensees will be the only free-to-air nationwide channels that will be allowed to carry any sort of news content. For a decade, long after the mandate of the current government which is on course to be dethroned in elections in the next year, no new entrants will be allowed in the TV market. Last Friday Kassandra also examined several problems with the auction process, which has now taken place.

“… pluralism of the media shall be respected”, says Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

One of the main factors of pluralism of the media is ‘pluralism of ownership’. Further examination highlights ‘supplier concentration’ as one of the dimensions. Taking this into consideration, limiting nation-wide news broadcasters to 4, clearly is a violation of the Taking this into consideration, limiting nation-wide news broadcasters to 4, clearly is a violation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

However… as an EU member state, Greece, is only bound by the charter when adopting or applying a national law implementing an EU directive or when the authorities apply an EU regulation directly… In other words, when dealing with issues outside of EU competence, its party time…

So, we must turn to something legally binding: Treaties and conventions, and the Rule of Law through the Greek constitution.

The EU Treaties

I n discussing the functioning of public broadcasters ( Protocol 29 of the Treaty of the EU), the state broadcasters’ functioning is set out with the “…need to preserve media pluralism” as a basic premise. The idea being that governments can manage the functioning of the state broadcasters, under certain conditions, as long as free speech isn’t hindered.

Thus media pluralism does not come in as a condition, but on a higher level, as the framework of consideration of the entire protocol.

European Convention of Human Rights The European Convention of Human Rights , sadly, does not mention media pluralism. But Article 10, on Freedom of Expression, reads that: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This Article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.” It is clear that ‘requiring the licensing of broadcasting’, must in turn require the government to grant licenses to all applicants without prejudice, when the government-set conditions are met. Otherwise, the right to freedom of expression is not upheld! Thus, a numerical limit of licenses is out-of-bounds.

The Greek Constitution

The The Greek Constitution , also seems to be at odds with the process.

Article 15, clearly states that the government control of media, aims at the impartial and under equal terms transmission of information and news.

The setting of a limit of licenses goes against the premise that there may be equal terms. Furthermore, even if we were to sidestep this first issue, the four licensees will have each paid a different amount for their license, ranging from €43.6 to €75.9m.

This is in certain violation of the constitutional right of broadcasters to operate under the same conditions as their competitors.

Günther Oettinger who wrote in a letter to the government concerning the matter: Another issue, is that the radio and television market, according to the constitution, is regulated by an independent authority known as the Greek National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV). Not only has the government carried out the whole process directly, but recent changes to the NCRTV governing board have been made outside of its charter. This spurred the reaction of the European Commission, andwho wrote in a letter to the government concerning the matter:

“The Commission fears that these changes are not in line with requirements of EU law which guarantee the independence of the national telecoms regulator, more specifically its independence from the government,” an EU official commented at the time.

The Rule of Law…

While all in Greece were hanging off of the words of Günther Oettinger, in the media law case of Poland, it was Frans Timmermans who intervened under the lenses of the Rule of Law. Interestingly, the way that the Polish government rationalized their move to bring the state broadcasters under more direct control was not against EU law, but by saying that Warsaw recognizes “the freedom and pluralism of the media”…

The European Commission’s radio silence on the issue so far only indicates one thing: they are weighing their options, against a deeply political give-and-take game with the Greek government. After all, €246m will enter the government coffers through this process, on average €61.5m per license.

Surely, a flat rate of say €50m per license would at least pretend to safeguard the basic premise of media pluralism (that is all who fulfill certain obligations can be licensed to participate in the market) while limiting the number of entrants capable of providing a quality news broadcast product.

It is the strictness of the obligations and the price of the license that should be subject of scrutiny vis-a-vis their effects on media pluralism. Restricting an entire market to four licenses reminds us of different times, or different areas of the world. The EU needs to keep Greece close, particularly with the situation in Turkey being rather unpredictable.

For now, Frans stays silent.