During the past six months, the Maltese have become more aware about energy related issues and protecting the environment, which along with inflation and immigration are the top four issues of concern for the Maltese, according to the latest Eurobarometer study.
The study, which was presented yesterday by the Head of the European Commission Representation Joanna Drake and editor of the national report Robert Micallef, is based on interviews with 500 respondents.
The two topmost issues that concern the Maltese are rising prices and inflation and immigration. At least 40 per cent of the respondents said that rising prices and inflation were the most important issued faced by the country, compared to 37 per cent of all EU correspondents.
Immigration came second with 29 per cent of Maltese respondents highlighting the issue, compared to 11 per cent of EU nationals.
In fact, this figure related to the Maltese data decreased by 11 per cent when compared to the last Eurobarometer study issued last autumn, a regular trend where the concern over immigration decreases in spring and increases in the autumn.
Energy related issues and protection of the environment were also high on the agenda, and are priority issues for the Maltese as opposed to the rest of the EU.
In fact, 18 per cent of Maltese said energy-related issues were their top concern as opposed to the five per cent of EU nationals.
Protection of the environment was the major concern for 21 per cent of Maltese, when compared to five per cent of EU nationals. This is a great improvement over the autumn Eurobarometer, when only 11 per cent of the Maltese listed the environment as a concern.
Malta, Cyprus and the Czech Republic were the only three countries that registered higher expectations for their individual national economic situation.
At least 40 per cent of Maltese said they expect their life to improve, a six per cent increase over the last survey, while another 13 per cent expect it to get worse. However, 39 per cent said they are not expecting any changes.
The percentage of Maltese who believe the country’s economic situation will improve during the next 12 months increased by five per cent, amounting to 40 per cent.
Furthermore, 17 per cent believe that it will get worse – three per cent less than the autumn study.
Almost all the respondents, 94 per cent, said they had heard of the European Parliament, making it the most well known EU institution – a higher figure than the EU average of 87 per cent.
The European Commission is the second most well known institution, with 86 per cent of respondents knowing about it while the European Union Council falls third with 78 per cent.
There was a four per cent increase, amounting to 72 per cent of respondents who say they have heard of the European Central Bank.
Dr Drake pointed out that this figure was very important especially with the MEP elections scheduled for next year.
More Maltese said they are in favour of the euro. In fact, there was a nine per cent increase since the last study, with a total of 72 per cent saying they were in favour of euro adoption, while 19 per cent said they were against.
Furthermore, more Maltese (69 per cent) believe that the country has benefited from being an EU member – an increase of five per cent. There was a decrease of eight per cent in the number of respondents who said Malta did not benefit from EU membership, amounting to 16 per cent.
Malta was one of four countries, along with Cyprus, Finland and Estonia, in which the national government enjoys the strongest confidence levels.
Over half of the Maltese respondents, 52 per cent, said they “tend to trust the legal system” – an increase of five per cent, while 36 per cent said they did not.
Seventy-eight per cent of the Maltese said they trusted the police while 17 per cent said they did not. Similarly, 77 per cent said they trusted the army as opposed to 11 per cent who said they had no faith.