Malta’s support for European Union membership has fallen further during the first quarter of this year, the latest Eurobarometer

survey about Malta shows.

According to the report published yesterday, the number of respondents who believe that the country’s membership of the EU is a positive development for Malta fell further, down to 40 per cent from 45 per cent in the last survey and by 15 points compared to a year-and-a-half ago.

Forty per cent said that membership of the EU is a good thing, 19 per cent said it is a bad thing and 36 per cent said that it is neither good nor bad.

Fifty-three per cent of those polled said that they had benefited from Malta’s membership of the EU and 30 per cent said that they had not.

The report said the decline in public support for the EU mainly reflected a shift towards the opinion that EU membership will have an overall neutral effect on Malta.

Support for Malta’s membership of the EU peaked in the autumn of 2003, shortly after the holding of the EU accession referendum and the general election, but has followed a downward trend ever since.

This may reflect an increased awareness that the country’s challenges, especially those related to public finances and international competitiveness, cannot be solved through EU membership alone, the report added.

Asked whether they agreed with the EU’s policy of a single currency, the euro, half the Maltese interviewed said they were in favour – an increase of four per cent over the last survey. The EU average of support for the Euro is 59 per cent.

As for the European Constitution, 10 per cent are totally in favour of a European Constitution, 39 per cent quite in favour, nine per cent opposed and seven per cent totally opposed. Overall, 49 per cent are in favour while 16 per cent oppose the idea of a Constitution.

The remaining 35 per cent could not express a definite opinion.

The respondents who said they opposed the European Consti-tution were asked for their reasons. One per cent said the reason was that the Constitution goes too far. Twenty-nine per cent mentioned the loss of national sovereignty and eight per cent said that the EU is too technocratic and over-regulated.

A lack of information was given as their reason by 15 per cent, and 10 per cent said it was too complex.

One per cent said that their opposition to the Constitution is linked to Turkey’s EU accession or to further enlargement. Five per cent said that the EU is not sufficiently democratic and 13 per cent said they were against European construction and integration. Fifteen per cent said they did not see anything positive in this Constitution while seven per cent objected to the lack of reference to the Christian roots of Europe.

It should be pointed out, however, that the bulk of this Euro-barometer survey was carried out before the results of the French and Dutch referenda were known.

As in Ireland and Portugal, the results for Malta indicate a degree of uncertainty among the population. Sixteen per cent of the Maltese respondents said that, at a general level, they know about the contents of the European Constitution while 71 per cent said that they knew very little about the contents.

When asked a out the options they favour for the immediate future of the EU, 51 per cent of the Maltese respondents said they feel that the EU should be enlarged to include all the countries wishing to join. Twenty per cent said that the EU should be enlarged to include only some of the countries wishing to join; 13 per cent feel that the EU should not be enlarged at all and 13 per cent gave other options.

The majority of Maltese polled said that they were in favour of Switzerland, Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Iceland, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine joining the EU. On the other hand, only 43 per cent said they were in favour of Turkey joining, with 39 per cent against the idea.

When asked what they thought were the most important issues facing Malta, interviewees generally confirmed the worries they had expressed in the previous survey. The economic situation was mentioned by 42 per cent, 17 per cent mentioned illegal immigration and 14 per cent mentioned crime. Twenty per cent pointed at pension issues, reflecting the ongoing national debate about pension reform. Nine per cent of interviewees mentioned the protection of the environment, while 12 per cent referred to taxation.

Twenty-three per cent stated that rising prices and/or inflation was an important issue, which is understandable given that the rate of inflation in Malta has been higher than anywhere else in Europe by nearly three percentage points. Only one per cent mentioned terrorism as a priority issue, four per cent housing, four per cent the healthcare system, three per cent the education system and three per cent the issue of public transport.

As to the current state of the Maltese economy, 21 per cent say it is positive, while 77 per cent say it is negative. Only one per cent say that the Maltese economy is in a very good state. Twenty per cent say it is quite good, 54 per cent say it is quite bad and 23 per cent say it is very bad.

The current state of the Maltese environment is seen as good by 33 per cent, with the balance seeing it as bad. When asked about their financial situation, 68 per cent view the situation as good and 31 per cent as bad.

The report said the downward trend in public support for the government persisted, mainly due to the negative effects of fiscal austerity measures and public enterprise restructuring on personal disposable incomes. In fact, the share of those who say they trust the government was the lowest recorded in a Eurobarometer survey during the last five years.

Trust in the Maltese parliament also fell, but trust in political parties remained stable at 29 per cent. Trust in the Maltese government remains high, compared to the results in the 25 EU member countries overall.

Forty per cent said that they trust the government while 50 per cent mistrust the government. 38 per cent trust the Maltese parliament while 48 per cent do not.

[email protected]