A meeting of the Nationalist Party’s parliamentary group held yesterday morning turned out to be a full-scale confrontation with the Prime Minister over the plans for the extension of St John’s Museum.

Although all the participants at yesterday’s meeting took an oath of media silence, this paper can reveal that no less than a third of the MPs who spoke showed they were against the project. Others, who in private are against it, did not speak.

Others argued that such a proposal, which can be considered as a private proposal seeing it came from the St John’s Foundation, should not endanger the government’s plans for Valletta and indeed for the country.

The tension showed through on Dr Gonzi’s face when he arrived, late, for the inauguration of Melita Mobile, though he tried his best to cover it up.

Even after yesterday’s outburst, however, it is still hard to imagine that government MPs will vote for the Labour motion condemning the St John’s proposal when this is debated in the House on Wednesday week, even though, in itself, the motion is not a vote of confidence.

PN strategists are already planning a fall-back position, such as claiming that such a motion jumps the gun, considering that the Environment Impact Assessment has not been carried out yet.

Others will argue that with such a motion Labour is assuming vetoing power over Mepa.

Others will ask, and in this they are joined by many Labour supporters, what is Labour doing with such a motion when the country is facing so many harder problems?

Meanwhile, in a further twist to the long-running story, FAA’s Astrid Vella claimed on Friday that the Cathedral Chapter, in a meeting held some time ago, had voted against the plan, except for Mgr Philip Calleja who, Ms Vella, claimed, abstained. Other monsignors on the Foundation’s board may have been absent on that day.

In a statement issued on Friday, Mgr Calleja, on behalf of the Foundation, said that the Foundation had applied for EU funding following a public call for which all Maltese entities were encouraged to submit proposals. The Foundation’s technical submission was in line with the published regulations under Priority Axis 2 of the Structural Funds Programme for Malta. Mgr Calleja stressed that as an autonomous entity, the Foundation felt the need – like other bodies have done – to apply for EU funds for a project that is important for the Co-Cathedral and Malta.

The Foundation said that out of the e900 million allocated to Malta by the European Union, there were e120 million allocated to Priority Axis 2 of Malta’s Structural Funds Programme. e13.798 million of these funds (to which the Foundation will be adding e2.06 million of its own funds as its co-financing share) were allocated to St John’s following the extensive adjudication process carried out strictly in line with EU regulations.

The total allocated to St John’s is 1.5 per cent of the funds allocated to Malta and 11.5 per cent of those allocated to Priority Axis 2. The objectives of Priority Axis 2 are the promotion of a sustainable and competitive tourism industry, supporting the upgrading of the tourism product and improving the competitiveness of tourism and culture operators.

But this argument was seized upon by some MPs who spoke yesterday and asked if the funds could not be spent elsewhere, given this government’s tight financial situation.

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar and a number of patriotic citizens are to present an Open Letter to the Prime Minister, requesting a reconsideration of important decisions in the regeneration of Valletta – relocating Parliament to the Opera House site, and the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation’s plans to excavate an underground museum in St John’s Square and cover its graveyard.