From an EU-wide Special Eurobarometer survey, it resulted that 51% of Maltese participants believe that national authorities should be responsible for the protection of Europe’s cultural heritage, surpassing the EU average of 46% by 5 percentage points.
This Special Eurobarometer survey, which is the first of its kind, has been carried out to assess the attitudes and opinions of Europeans about cultural heritage.
Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government Owen Bonnici said that this government is working tirelessly to put culture and cultural heritage at the centre of its policy. He stated that, “the fact that Maltese participants in this survey have surpassed the EU average shows that they have trust in their government and in its work towards promoting and protecting our culture.”
A report on this survey was published on 7th December 2017.
Questions focused on participants’ involvement with cultural heritage, values attached to cultural heritage and culture and the protection of Europe’s cultural heritage amongst others.
The answers to this survey were used to create an index to represent the level of positivity towards cultural heritage. Malta placed third with an index of 17.1, and is considered as a country with one of the most positive attitudes towards cultural heritage.
A total of 90% of Maltese participants said that they feel proud of historical Maltese monuments or sites, works of art and traditions, while 89% of local participants feel that Europe’s cultural heritage should be taught in schools.
73% of Maltese participants said that cultural heritage is very important for them, and 79% said that they agree with the fact that living close to places linked to European cultural heritage gives a sense of belonging. 94% of participants said that cultural heritage is important to Malta.
Only 5% felt that they find it difficult to visit cultural heritage sites due to the fact that they’re remote or are difficult to access.
88% said that cultural heritage and related activities create jobs.
In other sections of the survey, 19% of local participants said that they have donated money or other resources to an organisation that is active in the field of cultural heritage, whilst the total EU average in this regard was found to be 7%.
This survey was commissioned by the European Commission and the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, and co-ordinated by the Directorate-General for Communication.