Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras moved to defuse a political crisis over the government’s abrupt closure of State broadcaster ERT that prompted a nationwide strike yesterday and brought thousands into the streets in protest.

Samaras, who has branded defenders of ERT hypocrites, invited two left-wing junior coalition parties opposed to the shutdown to talks next Monday, his office said, seeking to avert political instability in the bailed-out eurozone country.

A senior government official said the conservative prime minister was open to discussing their proposals and a compromise was likely, though he did not intend to back down from closing ERT and relaunching a smaller, more efficient entity.

“I believe there is scope for compromise and we will not go to new elections,” the official said.

The partners, who want ERT switched back on immediately, welcomed the meeting but kept up a critical broadside that has pushed Greece into its most serious political crisis since the uneasy right-left coalition came to power a year ago.

“The country doesn’t need elections, they would be a colossal mistake, but Pasok is not afraid of them,” Socialist Pasok chief Evangelos Venizelos said. “We support a radical restructuring of ERT, but not with blacked-out screens.”

The other small party in the coalition, the Democratic Left, reiterated its demand that ERT be reopened immediately and also warned against pushing the debt-choked country to snap polls. An uneasy alliance of parties that have little in common apart from the desire to keep Greece in the euro zone and hooked to an international bailout, the coalition has regularly bickered over austerity policies and immigration issues.

But the ferocity of the public clash between Samaras, who has vowed to transform Greece from “a real Jurassic Park” into a modern economy, and his allies has raised doubts about whether a formula can be found.