A carnival event organised by the Mediterranean Conference Centre in February 2023 cost over €100,000.

‘Carne Vale, Il Gran Ballo in Maschera’ was held in the 16th-century Sacra Infermeria and was defined as “a celebration of art, culture, seduction and beauty”.

Minister Clayton Bartolo justified the expenditure for the gala event, saying it was part of MCC’s efforts to organise events in “the shoulder months’ when tourism in Malta decreases.

The event was held for the second year in a row, but the minister only tabled costs for 2013, saying they amounted to €101,212.

He tabled the information in reply to a parliamentary question by PN MP Julie Zahra.

Those attending were greeted with drinks and canapes and a four-course meal prepared by a Michelin star chef “replete with revelry, mystery and entertainment, under the patronage of Grand Master Pinto himself,” according to the MCC’s marketing material.

The MCC invited people to be “immersed into a magical world with harlequins and minstrels dancers, acrobats, musicians, all in magnificent costumes and tantalizing masks of Malta’s own take on a flamboyantly magnificent Baroque Carnival”.

The minister said the event allowed Maltese artists “to showcase their talent”.