DISY president Annita Demetriou yesterday demanded the resignation of Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou over her handling of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, joining AKEL and the Movement of Ecologists in calling for her removal.
Demetriou described the situation as “dramatic and out of control,” saying that behind the statistics were farmers watching their livelihoods destroyed, workers worried about their income, families living with uncertainty and citizens receiving contradictory messages.
She said the public had expected unified operational and communications coordination from the minister, but instead had seen conflicting statements between the government, the ministry and the relevant authorities. “In a health and production crisis, contradictions are not merely a communications error — they undermine trust and weaken compliance with measures,” she said.
Demetriou pointed to what she called a stark example of the confusion: the minister had assured parliament that non-symptomatic animals would not be culled, only for a cull order covering all animals at a specific farm to be issued the same evening. “It is truly outrageous. It is shameful. It is deeply disrespectful. It is a monument to failure and irresponsibility towards our farmers and the Cypriot economy,” she said.
DISY tabled four proposals: clarification of protocols, with culling limited to symptomatic animals only; a comprehensive crisis management plan with clear public guidance; the formation of an expert committee; and a transparent compensation scheme.
Demetriou also wrote to EPP president Manfred Weber, informing him of the situation and requesting his assistance.
The government’s response came not from spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis or deputy spokesperson Yiannis Antoniou, but from Victoras Papadopoulos, the Presidential Palace’s head of communications. Papadopoulos accused Demetriou of populism driven by vote-gathering ahead of the parliamentary elections.
President Christodoulides, who has given Panayiotou a second or third chance in the post, now faces pressure on two fronts: the foot-and-mouth crisis adds to domestic criticism the ministry has already drawn over water management issues and last summer’s forest fire in the Limassol mountains.
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