Government continues refusing to disclose Eurovision Song Contest costs
New culture minister refers PN MP to reply given by predecessor in January
The Culture Minister on Monday refused to disclose costs linked to Malta's performance at the Eurovision Song Contest in May, referring instead to a reply given in parliament in January about the Malta Song Contest.
The January contest had been won by Aidan with his song Bella, and he went on to represent Malta in Vienna in May.
In January, PN MP Julie Zahra had asked for the cost of the local contest, including all services, flights, hotels, presenters and local and overseas guests. She also asked for a breakdown of what was paid by government entities and what was covered by private funding.
Then-culture minister Owen Bonnici had said information about the local song contest costs was commercially sensitive.
Earlier this month, Zahra asked the new culture minister, Malcolm Paul Agius Galea, for the total expenditure linked to this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna.
She also asked for the costs of the marketing of the song in Malta and abroad, including billboards, magazines, and advertising and the cost of the accommodation and flights for every country the singer visited, including Australia, Norway, Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Romania, England, San Marino, and Lithuania.
She additionally asked how many people travelled with the singer during these trips and what role each of them had, how many people went with the singer to Vienna and what the role of each person was; and how much the flights and accommodation for the Maltese contingent, including the singer, in Vienna cost in total.
But instead of providing the information, Agius Galea referred Zahra to Bonnici's January reply, which had been given before Aiden's song started being marketed abroad.
Information on the contest's costs has occasionally been given in the past. In 2013, PBS, which organises the show, said it had cost €200,000, but it was a completely commercial activity, and the government did not fork out a cent.
Last year, however, PBS refused to issue details on the costs of that year's concert, also saying that it was commercially sensitive.