Nicosia, Cyprus. Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou said it was “incomprehensible” that Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou remains in her post, a day after Disy leader and House President Annita Demetriou joined calls for her resignation.
Stefanou renews resignation call
Stefanou criticised what he described as the president’s insistence on keeping Panayiotou in office, despite what he called her inability to respond to serious issues she has been required to manage.
He said that whether it was last summer’s fires, the water issue, or the current foot and mouth crisis, the minister had not met the demands of the situation, adding that assuming political responsibility was the only way out of what he described as an impasse.
Foot and mouth disease and EU rules
On the ongoing outbreak of foot and mouth disease, Stefanou called on the government to provide “scientific documentation” aimed at securing an exemption from European Union laws requiring that if an animal is found to have the disease, every animal in the same livestock unit must be slaughtered.
Panayiotou warned on Tuesday that not adhering to EU laws could lead to Cyprus being ejected from the European single market and could result in tight restrictions on the movement of people, goods, and services between the island and Europe.
Damianou cites wildfire response and committee testimony
On Thursday, Akel MP and House interior committee chairman Aristos Damianou also called for Panayiotou’s resignation, referring to her handling of wildfires in the Limassol district last summer that killed two people.
Damianou said a joint session of the House interior, agriculture, and environment committees examining the state’s response found “serious weaknesses and deficiencies” and “significant contradictions” between public statements by ministers and officials from state services.
He accused Panayiotou of systematically avoiding answers to the substance of committee members’ questions and of attempting to transfer responsibility for coordination to fire brigade chief Nikos Longinos.
Damianou also said she refused to justify the absence during a key period of her ministry’s permanent secretary, Andreas Georgiou, who had been designated as coordinator of organisations involved in the fire response but travelled to Australia to commemorate the anniversaries of the 1974 coup d’état and invasion.
He said that based on what was said before the committees, Panayiotou did not adequately respond to her duties and did not facilitate the work of the committees during her appearances.
How do you assess the government’s handling of the foot and mouth disease outbreak and related EU requirements?
