Main opposition New Democracy (ND) party this week reacted angrily to statements by a television panelist on the state-run broadcaster ERT, who referred to an address by the party’s president, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, as reminding him of “fascist theorist Sergio Panuccio (sic)”.
ND sent a scathing letter to the state-run channel, demanding that it reprimand the journalist in question, Sotiris Kapsohas, who likened the pro-reform Mitsotakis’ statements to fascist theorist Sergio Panunzio, an inter-war fascist theoretician credited with promoting the concept of national syndicalism in Mussolini-led Italy.
The journalist appears on an afternoon news affairs program as one of the permanent panelists. On Monday, he linked Mitsotakis’ call over the weekend for privatizations in thrice bailed-out Greece to “a pitiless and extremist neo-liberal dogma”.
In response to ND's criticism, the broadcaster issued a statement saying “there can be no preventive censorship of its journalists, whether they belong to its permanent personnel, or whether they are outside associates”.
The broadcaster did not refer to any action in the wake of the presenter’s eyebrow-raising quip.
The party later announced that it had instructed its MPs and top cadres to refrain from appearing on ERT's news programs.
