ATHENS (AFP) - The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on Friday asked Greece to re-open public broadcaster ERT after the government's surprise decision to pull it off the air in a bid to cut spending sparked a nationwide strike.

"We ask the government to reverse this decision, we ask the government to reestablish the signal on TV, radio and web," said Mr Jean-Paul Philippot, president of the EBU, which aims to promote public-service broadcasting and is the world's largest association of national broadcasters.