Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/929711
11 maltatoday SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2018 Valletta 2018 MATTHEW VELLA NATIONALIST MP Claudio Grech said he would boycott yesterday even- ing's opening ceremony for Valletta's European Capital of Culture year, cit- ing the city's "Third World" housing conditions. The MP said hundreds of housing units inside the capital city were still in unsound conditions for a "city worthy of being capital of culture". Valletta yesterday celebrated the start of a year of cultural events as ECOC for 2018, although debate still rages on in the artistic community as to whether the 'year-long celebration' will bestow any legacy for Malta's artistic commu- nity. On his part, Grech complained that the capital city had seen a mushroom- ing of reserved parking spaces for min- istries and government departments, and that restaurants and shops had taken up kerbside space for their pa- trons. He contrasted the gentrified spaces for commerce and culture in Valletta with the deprived areas were pave- ments were "not even decent enough for animals, let alone for the city's aged population". Grech said the Valletta local council had been "abandoned" by the govern- ment after not having been giving a cent to invest in residential infrastruc- ture. The council only recently moved into the former Café Premier, the site of the controversial €4.6 million 'bail- out' paid to its former leaseholders by the Office of the Prime Minister. On his part, Valletta 2018 Foundation chairman Jason Micallef responded with a terse Facebook statement, dub- bing Grech's stance a "cheap, shallow stunt... An [sic] Valletta MP conspicu- ous by his absence and he knows it." Grech also complained that Val- letta remained without its own football ground, its waterpolo pitch was still in a state of deterioration, and had a play- ground "full of scaffolding". "This does not take anything away from my appreciation of those artists who have given their contribution. It is a pity that 'culture' has turned into a 'party' with the consequence that it has not been integrated in a framework of respect and recognition that the resi- dents deserve," Grech said. MP's Valletta 2018 boycott On Castille Square