A heated confrontation erupted during parliamentary oversight between Deputy Minister of Rural Development Christos Kellas and Larisa PASOK MP Evangelia Liakouli. Tensions escalated when Mrs. Liakouli launched sharp criticism against the ministry’s handling of the sheep and goat issue, attacking the government for failing to halt what she called “the bluetongue storm.” “You completely lost control. You failed spectacularly,” Mrs. Liakouli declared, triggering a strong reaction from Deputy Minister of Rural Development Christos Kellas.
Responding to Mrs. Liakouli, he stated that “no EU member state has vaccinated its animals with existing vaccines for the disease, which are of dubious quality and lack European Commission approval.” According to Mr. Kellas, the government is actively supporting farmers, noting that 167 million euros have been allocated for their support. He emphasized that 62 million euros of this amount relates to supporting livestock farmers for culling their animals, and underlined that none of the three vaccines—Turkish, Egyptian, and Jordanian—are EU-approved.
Kellas and Liakouli clash: “You’re hiding behind claims the vaccine is unapproved”
For her part, Evangelia Liakouli spoke of the government’s shocking decision not to proceed with animal vaccination despite guidelines from EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, resulting in the culling of half a million animals. “You’re hiding behind the claim that the vaccine is unapproved. There is irrefutable evidence that in his letter—which you’re concealing—the EU commissioner says that if you don’t vaccinate the animals, we will ban everything,” the Larisa MP stated mockingly.
“What you’re saying has no relation to reality. There is no concealment, and the ministry communicates daily with the responsible commissioner, Oliver Varhelyi. In the letter he sent on October 6, 2025, he doesn’t speak of mandatory vaccination, but as a supplementary tool. He doesn’t impose vaccination, he recommends it. The vaccine for bluetongue disease is not EU-approved,” Christos Kellas responded forcefully.
“The day before yesterday, in response to SYRIZA MEP Kostas Arvanitis, the European Commission stated that there is no approved vaccine in the EU. If the vaccination plan is implemented in Greece, as you suggest, strict measures will be imposed, there will be severe consequences, and dairy products—mainly feta cheese which has PDO status—and meat will be banned,” the Deputy Minister of Rural Development added.
Responding to the deputy minister’s statements, Mrs. Liakouli said that “what the European Commission is saying is that the vaccine is not freely available for private exploitation and it doesn’t prohibit the government from conducting vaccinations, but recommends that it be provided by the European Vaccine Bank. Are you telling us that the EVB vaccines are unsuitable?”
