It may have been nothing more than a mischievous and somewhat exaggerated political barb, but a single placard at a recent pro-environment rally appears to have irked Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi more than any amount of legitimate criticism his government has incurred in the past weeks.

The slogan “Vote George, get Lorry”, held aloft by freelance columnist Dr Claire Bonello during a protest march organised by 17 NGOs in Valletta on 10 June, (see page 5) has since resurfaced in a number of unusual places, including a private meeting between the Prime Minister and Din l-Art Helwa, as well as yesterday’s press briefing at Castille.

Dr Bonello’s was not the only placard to take a pot shot at Environment Minister George Pullicino at the pro-environment demonstration. Other slogans included “Awtogols biss, George?” (“Only own goals, George?”), and even “Time to go” – a clear and unequivocal call for Mr Pullicino’s resignation. But it was the reference to the late Labour minister Lorry Sant, traditionally the Nationalist Party’s bête noir, which evidently got the government’s goat.

Writing in The Times on Friday, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo made public a number of email rumours spawned by the same slogan: among them, that “the very highest government authority” (presumably the Prime Minister) summoned an NGO chairman to his office, and threatened to rescind an earlier decision to create a national heritage park unless the NGO publicly distanced itself from the offending remark.

It transpires that Dr Vassallo was referring to a private meeting which took place between Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Din L-Art Helwa president Martin Galea, for which Environment Minister George Pullicino and Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech were also present.

Contacted by this newspaper, Dr Gonzi denied that he in any way attempted to blackmail Mr Galea into publicly commenting on the slogan. “The facts are simple. Din L-Art Helwa asked for a meeting with me. During the meeting, Martin Galea dissociated himself from the contents of the poster. I told him that statements such as that, made to me between four walls where no one could hear us, had no value unless repeated publicly,” Dr Gonzi said, adding that the allegations hinted at by Dr Vassallo in his article were totally unfounded. “So much so, that the meeting continued and we discussed a number of initiatives which are being addressed by government including the drafting of a management agreement.”

This much was confirmed by Mr Galea himself, who told this newspaper that the meeting did indeed reach a satisfactory conclusion as far as Din L-Art Helwa was concerned. But neither Mr Galea nor Dr Gonzi could conceal the fact that the same meeting was at moments a heated affair: in fact, the

original rumour may well be attributable to a single, spur-of-the-moment comment, in which the Prime Minister allegedly questioned why his government should continue to co-operate with NGOs, when these were always so critical of its performance.

Meanwhile, the “Vote George, Get Lorry” comment also made a special guest appearance during yesterday’s press briefing by the Prime Minister at Castille.

Replying to questions about the same Din L-Art Helwa rumour, Dr Gonzi claimed that he knew of a letter, intended for publication in yesterday’s The Times, which was allegedly withdrawn after pressure from unnamed individuals.

According to Dr Gonzi, the

letter in question was signed by representatives of “the serious environmentalist associations of this country”, which specifically dissociated themselves from a poster which “unfairly” and “personally” attacked Minister George Pullicino: no prizes for guessing which poster Dr Gonzi had in mind.

“If it’s true that there was a letter signed by a group of organisations, ready to be published in The Times, which was withdrawn, I would like to know who exerted pressure to have it withdrawn, and why it was withdrawn,” he said.

However, editor of The Times Ray Bugeja denies having received any letters signed by a number of NGOs in the last few days. To date, the Prime Minister’s source of information over this matter remains a mystery, although it is possible that he was referring to a press release, sent to six newspapers by the NGO Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar, which stated that “the environment should be free of partisan comment or party politics, and instead be treated as a national and unifying issue.”

Up until yesterday, this press release had not been published in any newspaper.