Disy leader Annita Demetriou on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou over the ongoing outbreak of foot and mouth disease, which has centred on the Larnaca district in recent weeks.

“The situation is dramatic and out of control,” she said, before pointing out that “behind the numbers” – which include over 13,000 animals culled – “there are people”.

Demetriou is also president of the House of Representatives.

“There are livestock farmers who are watching their hard work being wasted, workers who are worried about their income, families who are living in uncertainty, and people who are receiving conflicting messages,” she said.

“In such serious cases, society expected a unified coordination of operations and communication, from the agriculture minister and all the competent services,” she added.

She said there had been no such coordination but rather an image of contradictory positions between the government, the ministry, and the competent services.

“People hear one thing from one person and another from the other. In a health and production crisis, contradictions are not simply a communication error, they undermine trust and weaken compliance with the measures,” she said.

 “We cannot watch an entire sector, livestock farming, be destroyed and wait, after assurances from the president that protocols will change, for the minister to assure parliament that asymptomatic animals will not be killed, and then have a warrant issued the same evening for all the animals on one farm to be killed off.”

She then stressed that “when the management of a crisis leads to such chaos, taking responsibility is not a choice, it is an obligation”.

“That means resignation. Because patience has its limits.”

Panayiotou had warned MPs on Wednesday that the culling of every animal at a livestock unit where foot and mouth disease is detected is mandated by European Union law.

Not adhering to those laws, she said, could see Cyprus ejected from the European single market, and see tight restrictions placed on the movement of people, goods, and services between the island and Europe.

Thus far, around 13,500 animals have been culled since the outbreak.

With Demetriou, the leader of Disy, now having openly called for Panayiotou’s resignation, both of Cyprus’ largest parties have now called for her to leave her post, after Akel said last month that she must “resign or be sacked”.

Akel had, in addition to Panayiotou’s handling of the foot and mouth outbreak, lambasted her response to the wildfires which tore through the Limassol district last summer and to water shortages experienced by the island.

“The chain of failures and incompetence in her entire area of responsibility is damaging the country,” the party said, before adding that while the Limassol fire was “the biggest disaster in the annals of the state”, “no one took responsibility for the tragic management of them”.

“Now, foot and mouth disease has developed into a crisis and the country’s livestock industry is suffering an unprecedented blow since measures were not taken in a timely manner,” it said.

The government rejected the criticism later on Wednesday, accusing Demetriou of attempting to politicise the public health crisis.

In a written response, the government said Demetriou was engaging in “a crescendo of populism with the obvious aim of hunting for votes in view of the parliamentary elections”.

The statement further insists that from the outset all measures and protocols required under EU legislation had been implemented, with veterinary services working continuously to contain the outbreak and protect the industry.

According to the government, veterinary professionals are “on the front line, fighting a daily battle to contain the epidemic”, while the state remains in constant coordination with the European commission regarding the management of the situation.

It also remarked that the president had raised the matter directly with the commission’s president, and that the competent European commissioner is expected to visit Cyprus in the coming days to coordinate additional support for affected livestock farmers.

The government warned that decisions taken outside the framework of EU procedures could have serious consequences for the country, including potential implications for participation in the single market.

In statements to journalists arriving at the trade union Sek’s conference on Wednesday night, President Nikos Christodoulides said, “I have nothing to say about the House speaker’s statements. I am not involved in the election campaign; we are not involved in the elections. I am focusing on the present.”

He added that “the government, and we will continue to do so, will stand by all those affected by this negative development, which affects many other sectors, but primarily affects livestock farming; therefore, seriousness is required from all of us in managing the issue.”