By a majority of 15 votes in favour and 10 against, the Council of State has decided on Sunday upon the closure of the state broadcaster ERT on June 12, 2013 to be "constitutional, legal and not contrary to European legislation". Greece’s supreme administrative court has rejected the petition drawn by the ERT staff union POSPERT and its president Panagiotis Kalfagiannis in which the broadcaster's closure was declared unconstitutional. According to the court’s ruling, ERT was included in a list of "non-essential state organisations" pegged for closure, merger or reform in the framework of a state overhaul and downsizing, while the requirement to operate a public broadcasting body did not emerge from the dictates of the Constitution, so its closure did not contravene article 15 of the Constitution.