Leftist SYRIZA this week tabled an unprecedented amendment in Parliament which, if passed, would mandate that radio stations in Greece devote a whopping 40 percent of their airtime to music exclusively produced by Greek performers and artists.
Leftist SYRIZA this week tabled an unprecedented amendment in Parliament which, if passed, would mandate that radio stations in Greece devote a whopping 40 percent of their airtime to music exclusively produced by Greek performers and artists.
The amendment, which has little to no chance of being approved by a Parliament majority, would dictate to private radio stations licensed in the country that they play material by Greek creators in nearly half their program, in a bid to funnel airtime royalties to the now coronavirus-battered sector via the Organization of Collective Management for music artists. The reasoning, according to SYRIZA, is that only a fraction of live performances and concerts were held in 2020, and have now been cancelled for the near future.
The amendment makes no distinction between music stations and all-news, all-talk providers, or even the type of music a station plays or even a station's ownership composition. For instance, if passed, the Metropolis of Piraeus' ecclesiastical radio station would be forced to play music during 40 percent of its program - ostensibly Christian Orthodox themed, but only by Greek artists. The same would apply to municipalities' radio stations.
Radical leftist SYRIZA, in power from 2015 - Greece's annus horribilis - to the summer of 2019, today comprises the main opposition party in Greece's Parliament.
The strange and authoritarian amendment was tabled as a rider to a culture ministry-related draft bill, a day after another SYRIZA draft amendment was hastily withdrawn.
The other amendment veered in the opposite direction, calling for an extraordinary and one-off monthly bonus to be paid to law enforcement personnel in the country. After stepped up reactions by SYRIZA deputies, it was withdrawn.