Deputy health minister caught taking a puff tells EU official to butt out

Greece's alternate health minister has told the European Union's top health official to butt out after getting a reprimand for smoking in public.

Alternate Minister Pavlos Polakis was caught on video footage this week holding a cigarette while dancing in a club. He had also been photographed smoking at a news conference in 2016.

The photograph drew a rebuke from EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, who was in Athens to mark World Cancer Day. Andriukaitis said the practice was "shameful".

"This guy knows nothing about health," he told Kathimerini.

Polakis, who is also a surgeon, said he was dealing with more pressing issues at the ministry than smoking. "Learn before you speak," Polakis wrote on his Facebook account in a post addressed to Andriukaitis.

"I'll decide when to stop smoking, on my terms," Polakis said.

Greece has...