In a statement, the Ministry of Rural Development and Food accused Liakouli, an MP for Larissa, of ‘recycling inaccurate and previously answered complaints’, while declining to directly address why vaccination was not implemented in a timely manner despite the scale of losses in the primary sector.

Earlier, Liakouli, who serves as PASOK’s head of justice, institutions and transparency, submitted to parliament an official letter from the European Commission to the Greek government. The letter describes vaccination against sheep and goat pox as ‘necessary and mandatory’ and, according to Liakouli, was never officially communicated to parliament, livestock farmers or the competent regional authorities.

Liakouli has also requested the intervention of the public prosecutor. She said that on 6 October 2025 the European commissioner for animal health and welfare, Oliver Várhelyi, sent a letter to the minister of rural development and food stating that, due to what he described as an uncontrolled epidemiological situation in Greece, vaccination constitutes a mandatory additional measure under European law. In the letter, the commissioner says there is ‘irrefutable evidence’ that measures applied in Greece for more than a year have failed to stop the spread of the disease or reduce the number of animals culled.

In its response, the ministry said that similar complaints had already been raised in October 2025, following what it referred to as the ‘Várhelyi letter’, and that the issue had been discussed in parliament’s production and trade committee in the context of emergency legislation addressing the zoonosis and supporting the primary sector.

The ministry also cited a recent public statement by the European commissioner for agriculture, Christoph Hansen, who described vaccination as a ‘last resort’ rather than a central strategy for disease management.

Liakouli’s main question, however, remains unanswered: at what point a country is considered to have reached a ‘last resort’, if not after the culling of hundreds of thousands of animals.

The ministry accused the MP of ignoring or selectively presenting data, stating that ‘the dissemination of misleading information on an issue with enormous economic and social consequences does not constitute political criticism, but irresponsibility’. It added that livestock farmers require ‘serious, scientifically documented decisions’, even as vaccination measures continue to be delayed and losses in the primary sector mount.

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