Jon Mallia Calls Out €2 Million Europride Overspend As Families Struggle
Jon Mallia issued an impassioned plea after it was revealed that the 2023 Europride festival went over its original budget by a whopping €2 million.
“The gay pride cost €2 million more than anticipated and no receipts were provided so I must assume that the money was stolen,” he said.
Although the budget for Europride was originally estimated at around €2.5 million, it ended up costing the state some €4.6 million.
The government has defended this cost overrun by arguing that it had to spend more due to bad weather and that it had undervalued security costs.
However, the National Audit Office cast doubt on this explanation by pointing out that bad weather only impacted the opening ceremony, while security only amounted to some 9% of the total costs.
And Mallia went on to warn that this overspend was far from being a one-off. A road project in Nadur went over budget by over €10 million and the restoration of Fort Chambray, set to be developed into a private hotel, will cost taxpayers €6 million.
“There is more to say but I have to go to work now to pay my taxes that are being stolen from me everyday,” Mallia snidely remarked as he called out the unfairness of the situation.
“This morning, a father informed that his child has autism but his school doesn’t have an LSE, which means he has to take care of him himself rather than his struggling business.”
“He was in tears as he told me how much VAT he has to pay. I wanted to tell him not to give a single penny to this filth but I knew that the police would come after him with all their might.”
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