Greece’s Democratic Left Party has pulled out of the ruling coalition government after a dispute over the sudden closure of the state broadcaster ERT, a senior party member says.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cOn the basis of developments and the prime minister’s policies, the Democratic Left has decided to withdraw its ministers and general secretaries from government,\u201d Dimitris Hatzisokratis said on Friday.\n<\/p>\n
The Democratic Left has 14 deputies in the 300-seat parliament as well as two ministers and two deputy ministers in the Cabinet.\n<\/p>\n
Administrative Reform Minister Antonis Manitakis, affiliated with the Democratic Left, said, \u00c5\u201cI will table my resignation to the prime minister.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
And an opposition party spokesman said, \u00c5\u201cThe government comes out weakened from this situation, caused by Samaras’ extreme and undemocratic decisions on ERT.”\n<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 coalition partners have called for the immediate restoration of ERT broadcasts.\n<\/p>\n
Greece\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s top administrative court on June 17 ordered the government to restore public broadcasts.\n<\/p>\n
Samaras decided on June 11 to shut down ERT, saying it was part of the government\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s unpopular austerity measures to meet requirements from the troika of international lenders.\n<\/p>\n
However, on June 20, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dismissed the allegations saying it had not given any specific recommendations on decisions involving state companies.\n<\/p>\n
The Greek parliament passed a bill in April to cut 15,000 state jobs by the end of 2014 as a condition for debt-stricken Greece to receive rescue loans from its European partners and the IMF.\n<\/p>\n
CAH\/KA
\n<\/p>\n