I agree perfectly with the letter that was written by a German, Stiegfried Dohse, on December 31. I was surprised that a complete stranger from outside our shores had to write on the subject and not a single local paid lip on any of our media!

The present government should be ashamed of itself to have ever allowed such a monstrosity to take place in our capital. It gave millions of euros to Renzo Piano so he could ruin Valletta forever! The modern monster that is being built as one enters Valletta does not complement the architecture of the surrounding buildings that make Valletta stand out as a unique city in all of Europe! Also, where was the Malta Environment and Planning Authority when it gave the thumbs up to such a monstrosity? The structure has to be called grotesque.

In 1980, Valletta was granted the Unesco title Valletta World Heritage City and this year the government intends to put Valletta forward as a candidate for the European Capital City of Culture 2018. The pre-selection will take place by experts next year.

I am of the opinion that the experts should ignore our application after we mutilated the characteristics of our capital with these monstrosities, that is, an open-air theatre (subjected to noise, rain, sun and dust) and the new Parliament building.

The title bestowed to Valletta in 1980 by Unesco should also be taken away from us! This government should always be remembered as the one that spent thousands of euros from the peoples’ money to give them to Mr Piano to mutilate our capital city forever!