While Maltese people’s confidence in politics has dipped, especially after the internal ructions within the PN and the way the PL appeared to be clamouring for an election, confidence in our financial institutions are high.

The revelation came as Maltese citizens took part in a Gallup poll, made to gauge citizens’ confidence in financial institutions. Malta placed top with 72 %.

However, there was a slight dip when compared to last year with a four per cent drop – down from 76%. It is true that Maltese people tend to be either very positive, or very negative in their assessments when answering polls, however, it gives a strong signal – the people have faith in the system.

The primary reason why Malta’s finances have not been hit as hard as our European neighbours, is that it was conservative from the outset. Some might look at it as stingy – but we prefer to call it prudent. At the time, it might have looked like the system was overly conservative, but time is a great teacher. Our system is still afloat and we are still treading water. In turn, no matter what the political arguments may be, the government has also done very well in weathering the storm. But it is not only that. Despite all the failings, successive PN governments have had sounds fiscal and economic policies.

In comparison, on average, EU residents' confidence in their own countries' financial institutions has dropped from 39% in 2011 to 34% this year, meaning that about six in ten (61%) Europeans lack confidence in their national financial institutions.  Over here, it is only 28 % of people who do not have faith in them.

Besides Malta only five other countries had confidence level over 50% :  Finland (68%), Luxembourg (66%), Denmark (56%), Estonia (55%), and Sweden (53%).  Fewer than two in ten residents in Spain and Ireland -- two countries hard hit by the banking crises, along with Greece -- express confidence in their national banks.

Gallup said that the negative trend in Spain may reflect the government's acceptance of an international bailout deal in early June, shortly before it started the surveys in the country. Belgians, too, were perhaps less confident in their banks because one of the country's biggest, Dexia, was nationalized in a rescue deal in October 2011.

Gallup said that the implication of this survey is that the majority of EU residents are losing confidence in their financial institutions and banks, underlining the interdependencies of European economies, especially in the eurozone.

In addition, it said that despite the recent calm in the financial markets that led to lower interest rates for eurozone borrowers, European leaders should take these results seriously and make good use of this breathing room to find a long-awaited compromise on a future banking and fiscal union.

This, of course, will be on the agenda for discussion two weeks from now during a European leaders’ summit in Brussels – as they try and hammer out the next EU budget.

We should never rest on our laurels, but it is also sometimes healthy to look at achievements and put things into perspective. As we acknowledged, there are still areas where the government has got it wrong, most notably in not seeing how Maltese society is changing and evolving. We also struggle with our conservatism and desire to move forwards. But all in all, things are not that bad. When we look at other countries, and the way their citizens are feeling, we should realise that we are doing comparatively well. We hope that long may it last, whoever is at the helm.