Friends of the Earth Malta condemned the unfounded harsh criticism on environmental activists, including of one of its Board members, in the latest tirade by Valletta Cultural Agency's head Jason Micallef and called on the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Environment to disassociate themselves from Micallef's comments.

These so called attacks happened after these activists featured in "Malta: A Concrete Paradise" - an Arte production.

Friends of the Earth said that unfortunately, the facts are there for all to see and the picture presented by Arté's production on Malta's concrete paradise is evident in every town, village and ODZ - denying this reality is nothing but hypocritical.

These activists, who featured in the mentioned production, are some of the most active citizens involved in various environmental NGOs, dedicating their lives fighting to protect open spaces and safeguarding our wellbeing from the opportunistic greed of contractors who for decades have been fattening their pockets at the expense of our collective quality of life, said FoE.

In their statement, FoE stated that the fixation of government officials about bruising Malta's reputation simply exposes their inferiority complex and parochialism. Labelling every act of dissent as treason is a dangerous discourse which deliberately ostracises activists and makes them a target of public anger.

This attack on activists also contradicts the intention for a "mature discussions on environmental and planning issues" that the Minister for the Environment was recently promoting.