Andreas Frangos, the chairman of the board of directors, gave answers to everything that hovers against RIK in the newspaper “Politis”, who spoke publicly for the first time about the issue that arose with Andreas Giortsio and his relations with the ruling party. He explained why the show of Andreas Giortsiou stopped prematurely, rejecting the allegations of personal controversy. In fact, he referred to the problems with the indefinite-term employees of RIK and the court adventures in which his decision led to the rejection of the offer of the lawyer Christos Triantaphyllides in the competition for legal advisor of the state channel.
Asked if there were any political interventions in the RIK for critical comments by journalists towards parties and politicians, Mr. Frangos replied that this was not the case and called on anyone who disputed his statement to ask the journalists of the state channel themselves. “In his honor, Andreas Giortsios”, he continued, “at an unsuspecting time in his interviews he mentioned that no one ever intervened to indicate what he would say or do on his show”.
Letter through a lawyer
“We have not cut off Andreas Giortsio because he makes critical monologues on his show”, clarified the chairman of the board of directors of RIK, Andreas Frangos, to “P”. “The word 'cut',” he added, “refers to the closure of Andreas Giortsiou's show and suggests that it was done because he was speaking against the government.”
“What you do not know,” he added, “is that Andreas Giortsios and Konstantinos Iasonos have sent a letter to RIK through a lawyer, demanding that they be made indefinitely, because, as they claim, they have completed thirty months.”
Asked whether the thirty months have passed, Mr. Frangos answered in the negative. “RIK”, he stressed, “replied that they are not entitled to be transformed from associates into indefinite employees, because they were not here like other associates who completed the period of time that the law says. The collaboration with Andreas Giortsio and Konstantinos Iasonos concerned some specific things and have not exceeded thirty months. Nor do we have the right to make them indefinite, because the last agreement reached with the unions, on October 27, 2020, said that an end should be put to indefinite employees “.
Yortsiou satirical show
Mr. Frangos also explained the reasons he said no to Andreas Giortsiou's proposal for a satirical show. “As soon as I took over at RIK, DISY voted against the budget of the state channel for the first time and I had this phobia and concern mainly for the people of the station,” he said. “This is what I told Andreas Giorgio,” he added, “when there was a meeting on the issue and how we had to be careful, because we were close to passing the budget and we faced the risk of voting against it for what it meant for workers and the future.” of the channel “.
Finally, Giortsios
The president of RIK revealed that the contract with Andreas Giortsio will not be renewed and therefore the show “Happy Hour” will not continue in the new TV season. “If Andreas Giortsiou's contract is renewed for another year”, he claimed, “he will exceed thirty months of cooperation with RIK and then he will be able to claim in court that he has the right to stay with you on the state channel”.
“I abstained from voting”
Asked to answer whether good collaborators are sacrificed with successful television programs such as Andreas Giortsios, Mr. Frangos admitted that this problem is being created and that legislation is needed.
The president of RIK also responded to the whispers that exist regarding his relations with Andreas Giortsio, saying that he excluded himself from the vote held in the board of directors when the issue of indefinite time was raised. “I told them,” he said, “that I prefer not to take part in the vote because of the past and that I may not have been objective and I left the room. Nevertheless, the council, made up of members from all parties, unanimously said no. Which shows that there is no personal issue with a specific person “.
Letter to all partners
The president of RIK revealed that the letter sent to Andreas Giortsio is the same as those sent to all the people with whom the state channel has signed a contract and informs them about the termination of the agreement and that they will be informed later about the how long the cooperation will continue. “Indeed,” he says, “Giorgio's contract expired on June 25, but the management of the state television decided to end the television season on the 6th of the month for reasons of saving money.”
“In July”, as he explained, “some news programs will remain because we also have the complaints of the viewers who ask to continue some programs in the summer”.
TV program and sections
Regarding the new year TV program, the president of RIK stated that it has not been planned yet, while he referred to the modernization of the selection process of broadcasts. “For the first time in history,” he said, “an institutionalized procedure has been put in place for proposals inside and outside the RIK on the subject of television broadcasts, in order to put an end to the prevailing mentality where someone who knew a person in the state he would go to TV and find it to tell him to promote his own show “.
“At the moment”, Mr. Frangos noted, “we have before us seventy proposals submitted by people inside and outside RIK and concerning TV series, shows, etc. These proposals are before the Programs Committee which will forward them to the board of directors for approval “.
The paid twitter trolls
The chairman of the board of directors of RIK also responded to the accusations of some people on social media for high earnings. “I do not work for RIK and the board of directors,” he said, “I do not receive a salary but an allowance for each session, as is done in all the boards of the semi-governmental organizations. Board members are paid 70 euros per meeting, which takes place once every fifteen days and other times every week. “But there are troll bills paid by the parties who write various lies against me on twitter.”
“I'm Alarmed, but…”
Mr. Andreas Frangos did not hesitate to admit that he is an Alarmist appointed by the President of the Republic to the position of RIK president. “Nevertheless,” he explained, “I do not maintain good relations with DISY, which considers me a man of the Presidency, and sometimes I was not invited to a party meeting with the members of the board.” I do not depend on anyone nor do I have to pay anything to DISY. In fact, we happened to go to Parliament and the secretary general of AKEL to give us congratulations for our programs, while DISY did not do that “.
Legal advisor for 65 years
Heimarros was also the president of RIK and in the matter of the legal advisor of the state channel. “For the first time,” he said, “after 65 years, we decided to change a legal adviser who was in the office of Mr. Poly Polybius for so many years. That's why I said it reaches here. That's how we proceeded with the announcement of the offer, as a result of which I accepted an incredible war “.
In the courts with Triantaphyllides
Regarding the bidding process, Mr. Frangos told “P” that the lowest bid was submitted by the lawyer Christos Triantaphyllidis, which was only two thousand euros a year, at a time when the competition provided for thirty thousand. “But because,” he explained, “Mr. Triantaphyllides is a legal adviser to the Democratic Alarm, I said that it is not possible to choose him because there is a conflict of interest. Because if DISY files a complaint tomorrow about an issue, then who will Mr. Triantaphyllidis represent? Also, if we got to the point that the president of RIK and his legal advisor were Alarmists, we would not send the right image to the society “.
In fact, Mr. Frangos revealed that Christos Triantaphyllides has filed a lawsuit in RIK for his decision not to choose the lowest bid in the tender he announced for legal counsel.
Consolidation of RIK
Mr. Frangos described the problem created by the situation with the indefinite-term employees of RIK, who, as he said, have exceeded two hundred at the moment when the permanent employees do not exceed eighty. “We have prepared a new organizational chart and until we reach normalcy we will not allow someone else to become indefinite, because instead of protecting the workers from exploitation in the end it works against them, since the majority of RIK employees have a university degree and nevertheless, they are on an A4-7 scale, at a time when their tasks are for higher scales “.
“The Parliament itself, and rightly so,” he stressed, “does not defrost the positions and in order to do so, it is asking for a new organization chart to resolve this issue.” So we have consulted with the unions to find a solution to the problem and we have decided from now on to serve the indefinite time in exchange for permanent positions if they have the qualifications until the situation is resolved “.
“The RIK is determined to put an end to the situation and to correct the distortions created by the party interventions for the recruitment of both. It reaches others of indefinite time “, he stated characteristically.
