MELODRAMA marked yesterday’s session of the plenum, with the House eventually giving the nod to the budget of state broadcaster CyBC.
The approval comes with strings attached, however. Legislators have crossed off seven twelfths of the funds allotted to the CyBC so that come May, the channel will once again be forced to bring the begging bowl to parliament to ask for the release of the remaining amounts.
The restrictions mean that the state broadcaster cannot hire new staff or make promotions.
But the released cash will enable the CyBC to continue paying in full all its employees, and ensures that the channel will broadcast as planned the summer Olympics, the Eurovision song contest and the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship.
The arrangement came about as a result of an amendment tabled by the DIKO and EDEK parties, intended to find the middle ground. Previously, DISY and DIKO had refused to approve the broadcaster’s budget resulting in the employees remaining unpaid for March; in turn, the latter staged a four-hour strike last week and warned there would be more unless they received what was due to them.
The issue had turned political, with opposition parties accusing the state broadcaster of having become a den of nepotism and of acting as a government mouthpiece. There were also calls on the CyBC board to resign.
Despite releasing the funds, opposition MPs nevertheless had some harsh words for the state broadcaster during the House debate.
DIKO’s Nicolas Papadopoulos wondered how CyBC’s budget stood at some €50 million, whereas the typical budget of a private network was under €10 million.
“Why is it that (the number of) CyBC’s staff exceeds the people employed in all the private channels combined?” he said.
Independent MP Zacharias Koulias, known for his incendiary remarks, then raised a storm.
Facing the AKEL bench, he said: “You massacred the people at Mari, and because the pain was too much to bear you relegated the story to seventh slot on the CyBC bulletin.”
House Speaker Yiannakis Omirou sought to defuse tensions, ordering that the remarks be stricken from the record. But the damage had been done, with all the AKEL deputies walking out in disgust.
“Mr. Speaker, he has labeled us murderers,” AKEL MP Stavros Evagorou said before urging his colleagues to get up and leave. They returned shortly later.
During the debate, CyBC employees and trade unionists staged a demo outside the House, with the cast and crew of the popular spoof show “Patates Antinachtes” joining in.
