MaltaToday columnist and ex-PN minister Michael Falzon dies at 79
MaltaToday columnist and ex-PN minister Michael Falzon, credited with creating the planning authority at the start of the 1990s, dies at 79
Michael Falzon, the ex-Nationalist minister and a MaltaToday columnist for many years, has died.
An architect by profession, Falzon was 79-years-old.
He was elected to parliament for the first time in 1976 with the Nationalist Party and kept being elected at each election until 1996.
After the 1987 election victory by the PN, he served as parliamentary secretary and was later appointed infrastructure and environment minister.
He is credited for creating the Planning Authority and the first planning master plan in the early 1990s. The move was intended to remove permitting from the direct hands of the minister. In the 1992 legislature he also served as education minister.
He failed to get elected to parliament the 1998 general election and unsuccessfully contested the first European election held in 2004 on the PN ticket.
In 2011, along with developer Sandro Chetcuti, he helped set up the Malta Developers Association, which went on to become a strong lobby group for developers and the construction industry.
Falzon courted controversy in 2015 when he admitted to a journalist from The Malta Independent that he held a bank account with some €450,000 in it at HSBC private bank in Geneve, Switzerland. The discovery was part of the HSBC Leaks journalistic investigation.
Falzon had said the money was from his professional work as an architect in the late 1970s and 1980s and had since regularised his position with the tax authorities.
Falzon was one of the young faces within the PN in the 1970s who were pushing for change in the party then led by George Borg Olivier. After the electoral loss of 1976, the group of young politicians was instrumental to elect Eddie Fenech Adami as leader.
With an eye for journalism and analysis, Falzon had set up The People, a short-lived English language newspaper in the mid-1990s.
Sought after as a political analyst in TV debates, Falzon’s last appearance on the screen was last Monday on Xtra. He shared his views on current affairs, politics and international happenings every Sunday in his column on MaltaToday.
Condolences
Prime Minister Robert Abela was among the first to salute Falzon’s memory. In a Facebook post, Abela said he had worked on a professional level with Falzon on the founding of the MDA.
Abela said he had only met Falzon a few weeks ago during which both had an “interesting discussion” about the country’s future. Abela gave his condolences to Falzon’s family.
Opposition leader Bernard Grech also saluted Falzon's memory.
MaltaToday shareholder and director Roger Degiorgio described Falzon as “very witty, intelligent and open minded”.
“I recall him telling me that when George Borg Olivier asked him to contest his first election, the then prime minister told him that politics was an ungrateful activity and not to ever expect any thank yous or appreciation,” Degiorgio said. “His wit knew no bounds and I recall him cheekily congratulating Eddie Fenech Adami on his genius in saying the same thing differently throughout the 40 mass meetings he called in the politically difficult years of the 1980s.”
Degiorgio said Falzon was very close to journalists at the Stamperija, which is how the PN headquarters was known. “He had an elephant memory, ever ready to pass on facts and events which they may have overlooked. But he will long be remembered for being the first minister with political guts to introduce a sense of planning into Malta’s building regulations.”
Degiorgio said Falzon’s contributions in MaltaToday showed a developed political nous able to look critically at both major political parties. “Deepest condolences to his family.”
Meanwhile, MaltaToday shareholder and founder Saviour Balzan described Falzon as “one of the most perceptive and analytical minds”.
“He will be missed for his witty remarks and his extensive knowledge of the Maltese political landscape. I was fortunate enough to have invited him for last Monday’s XTRA, looking back at the events of 2024,” Balzan said.
Falzon was an outspoken Nationalist politician, Balzan said. “He was an outspoken and brazen critic of the Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici administrations and was the brainchild of some of Malta’s more important reforms, most especially in the planning sector.”
Balzan said the creation of the Planning Authority under Falzon’s guidance was essential for the country, even though on many occasions he had no remorse pushing forward controversial decisions that irked environmentalists and communities.
“Michael was not fake; he would tell it as it is. His weekly contributions in MaltaToday revealed a deep understanding of politics and politicians intertwined with a memory of the events that he experienced first-hand.
“I will miss the coffees we shared either in Valletta at Cordina or very recently in Naxxar. It was here that he would browse the printed newspapers and then utter an audacious comment about something he had just read followed by that wonderful warm smile.
He will be sorely missed, and his brand of mature analysis very difficult to replace.”
MaltaToday extends its condolences to Michael Falzon’s family and friends.
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