Environment commissioner Antonia Theodosiou on Friday hit back and those who had criticised her for her appearance at Thursday’s joint session of the House agriculture, environment, and interior committees held in light of the wildfire which tore through the Limassol district and killed two people last month, saying her critics aim to “harm” the government.

“I was negatively impressed by the fact that some are attempting to politically exploit, in order to harm the government of President [Nikos] Christodoulides, the answer I gave to a question as to whether I had a personal meeting with the agriculture minister [Maria Panayiotou],” over the matter of the environmental restoration of the area after the fire, she said.

The answer she had given was that she had not held such a meeting.

“At a time when the problems created by the recent fires require immediate solutions, some, instead of prioritising the importance of immediate cooperation, coordination, and mutual information between our services … prefer to highlight as an issue whether an official personally met with another,” she said.

She added that this view has been taken “as if the exchange of views and the submission of proposals were something to be talked about over a coffee”.

“I repeat the obvious: my cooperation with all departments, services, and ministries is ongoing, which is evident from the written notes/ That is why I do not intend to respond with comments in the form of gossip, which aims to damage the image of the government,” she said.

House interior committee chairman and Akel MP Aristos Damianou had described the lack of a meeting between Theodosiou and Panayiotou over the matter as “institutional absence and inaction”.

“Let’s tell things as they are: I cannot understand how for such a monumental problem, the environment commissioner has not met with the agriculture minister,” he said.