VIDEO> Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation employees, union workers and citizens staged protests after the Greek government’s closing of the state-run television and radio outlet.<

ATHENS — The leaders of Greece’s increasingly fragile coalition are to meet Monday in an effort to mend a deepening rift over the closing of the country’s state broadcaster that could force early elections if no compromise is found.

The surprise decision last week by the conservative prime minister, Antonis Samaras, to close the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, known as ERT, was vehemently opposed by his two coalition partners and by labor unions, and was unpopular with many Greeks. Speculation has been rife that the dispute could fracture the coalition.

The dispute intensified over the weekend when Mr. Samaras gave a speech defending his decision to close ERT — which he called «sinful» because of its spending — and to crack down on «the privileged» as part of a cost-cutting drive demanded by Greece’s international creditors.

It was a year ago that Greeks went to the polls amid political upheaval and the specter of a messy debt default that shook the countries that use the euro. The elections were inconclusive, leading to the cobbling together of the governing coalition. Mr. Samaras is supposed to serve a four-year term, but few expect it to last that long.

“Some believe that they will trap us in an election dilemma,” Mr. Samaras said Sunday, speaking to members of his New Democracy party in the southern town of Nafplio. “The dilemma is not over who will provoke elections, because nobody wants them. The dilemma is who will be responsible for blocking reforms.”

The socialist party known as Pasok, the second member of the coalition, condemned the prime minister for his “precocious pre-election tone.” …