Culture Minister Owen Bonnici has committed to meeting Dutch cultural authorities “in the coming weeks” but declined to comment on a burgeoning diplomatic row over Jason Micallef’s Valletta 2018 leadership.
Dr Bonnici promised to visit Leeuwarden, which shares the European Capital of Culture title with Valletta, to improve relations after the Dutch city cut official ties in April over Mr Micallef’s comments about Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Read: Minister intervenes as Dutch European Capital of Culture boycotts Valletta 2018
But the visit never took place, and Dr Bonnici’s counterpart in the province of Friesland, Sietske Poepjes, said this week her messages to the Maltese minister, pressing him to follow through on his promise, had been ignored.
Things are heating up in Friesland
The row continued to escalate, with the political party CDA, a junior coalition partner, calling on Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok to intervene.
Responding to questions from the Times of Malta, a Culture Ministry spokesman said: “The visit will be done in the coming weeks. Minister Bonnici was engaged with a number of laws which he had to pilot in Parliament.”
However, the spokesman would not comment on claims by Dutch politicians Dr Bonnici had disrespected Friesland or that his behaviour was straining relations between the two Capitals of Culture. He also did not say whether and why the Friesland minister’s messages had been ignored.
Ms Poepjes, in a text message to Dr Bonnici which she made public, urged him to set a date for the promised meeting and said: “Things are heating up in Friesland… I think that some people over here are questioning the honesty of your offer. I hate to see that happen.”
The CDA party, of which she forms a part, has now called on the Foreign Minister to intervene: “[Stef] Blok is a minister and can exert pressure on the Maltese government to apologise for Mic-allef’s statements and insist on a proper investigation into this attack. It is unacceptable that a journalist is blown up in Europe, this is not Russia,” the party said.
Read: Jason Micallef says criticism was “blown out of proportion”
Leeuwarden-Friesland 2018 said in April it would not send any official representatives to Malta if V18 did not distance itself “from their offensive tone, which refers, most notably, to the relatives of the murdered journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia”.
Mr Micallef has repeatedly spoken out against the makeshift memorial to Ms Caruana Galizia at the Great Siege monument in Valletta, called for the removal of public banners marking her assassination and mocked her final written words: “There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate.”
His comments have been condemned by a group of 70 MEPs and major authors from the group PEN International, as well as hundreds of local artists. Mr Micallef and Dr Bonnici have both defended the comments as the exercise of free speech.