Disy leader Annita Demetriou and Greek Food Minister Margaritis Schinas on Tuesday discussed the outbreaks of foot and mouth disease which she said have “plagued” both countries in recent months.

Demetriou said she and Schinas had discussed the matter “at length” and “exchanged ways of managing the problem at the European Union level”.

While more than 100 farms have been impacted by the disease in Cyprus, the outbreak in Greece has been centred on the Aegean island of Lesvos, where cases have been found at 76 farms in the last three weeks and 116 farms since the middle of March.

As well as the issue of FMD, Demetriou said Schinas informed her “about the priorities of his portfolio” and the matter of planned reforms to the EU’s common agricultural policy.

This comes with the European Commission reportedly planning to cut as much as €85 billion from the policy’s budget over the course of the next multiannual financial framework.

The multiannual financial framework is the EU’s multi-year budget, with the current framework covering the years between 2021 and next year, and the next framework covering the years between 2028 and 2034. The current framework allocated €385bn for the common agricultural policy.

Outside of the matter of food, Demetriou said that “Greece has been and remains our most enduring and strongest ally, with our brotherly relationship permeating the entire spectrum of cooperation between the two sides”.