The "failure" to set up the Mediterranean Music Academy shows that, under Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, "the right hand does not know what the left is doing", according to the Labour spokesman for youth and culture.
Owen Bonnici described the academy as "just another link in the chain of half-baked measures pushed by the government and aimed at attracting the vote of different sectors of the electorate just before the general election".
He said that since the academy was meant to be operational in October 2008, nothing had been said about it, confirming that the government's style was based on announcing a project and then not mentioning it in the hope that the public would forget.
The music academy was actually launched in July 2007 and the first seminar, a sort of soft opening by world-renowned conductor Riccardo Muti, who had agreed to endorse the project, was held a month later.
The second workshop was meant to be held the following year, but it never materialised and the academy was never set up.
EU funding had not been granted for the project but finances could have been allocated from the Malta Tourism Authority under cultural promotion, the minister responsible at the time, Francis Zammit Dimech, has said. But Culture Minister Dolores Cristina maintained that the project had been stalled due to the lack of EU funding and, in a statement yesterday in response to Dr Bonnici, reiterated that the music academy had not been shelved and that the government was still working on setting one up.
It would incorporate existing elements, including the School of Music and the Institute of Music at the university, and was intended to be housed in Villa Bighi in Kalkara, requiring an investment of €5 million.
Dr Bonnici also accused the Culture Ministry of not only doing nothing since the last election in 2008 but also, in an attempt to save face, claiming it would be building the project from scratch.
The ministry has said it tried to get in contact with Mro Muti but he has not responded. Meanwhile, it has been said that the acclaimed Italian conductor is unlikely to return to the project he had strongly supported as its honorary president, having undertaken other engagements.
In its statement, the ministry said it would continue exploring new roads to set up a music academy.
The ministry also rebutted Dr Bonnici's comments that the government was not supporting local artistes in the cultural field, listing the initiatives and funds that the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts has launched for them.