Adrian Delia is building his political narrative on a distorted interpretation of the latest Eurobarometer survey. He is being selective when quoting the survey, magnifying some issues and ignoring the rest. His populist message is that the Maltese are very concerned about security and crime.
The Standard Eurobarometer survey is carried out twice a year by the European Commission, and has been in existence for 40 years. It is a study carried out across EU member states to understand the opinion of Europeans about subjects that matter to them, such as their work, their concerns and their economic situation. The latest survey was published in December with the ground research carried out between 5 and 19 November.
In the report’s own words, there were two notable events in 2017 that were likely to have had an impact on Maltese responses – the general election held in June, and the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia on 16th October. At the time the research was conducted by the Eurobarometer no one had been charged with her murder.
Respondents were asked to choose the most important issues that they were facing personally. The top two concerns were rising prices and the environment. The third most important issue was crime, which was mentioned by 17% of respondents. At a national level, crime was highlighted as the main issue that Malta was facing last year. This is understandable given that the survey was held just a few days after the murder. Everybody was shocked at what had happened, and the national agenda was dominated by that event. I would have been surprised if, at that point in time, people were not concerned about crime and security.
These issues contrast sharply with the issues highlighted in 2012 where a third of families were worried about the economy and 40% were concerned about inflation. Today, these are far less concerning to the Maltese. In 2012, 24% of those surveyed were concerned about the national debt - this has now fallen to only 2%.
What Adrian Delia is not saying, is that the Eurobarometer highlights the fact that the Maltese economy has continued to perform very well with strong growth in gross domestic product and employment. The economic situation of Malta is judged to be very upbeat, with 89% expressing a positive opinion, compared to 60% within the rest of the EU. This is an all-time high for our country. The current optimism on the economy in Malta is double the level observed in the survey that was done before the change of government in 2013. More than half of Maltese interviewed in 2012 felt the economy was bad. Today this has dropped to only 7%. The survey shows that 95% of respondents in Malta are very positive about the life they lead. This level is slightly higher than that expressed in 2016 and remains one of the highest in the European Union. The relative percentage for the EU is 83%.
The employment situation in the country also scores highly with 85% of the Maltese stating that it is very good or rather good. The relative figure for the rest of the EU is only 42%. When it comes to their personal job situation, two out of three respondents described it as either very good or rather good, which is way higher than in the rest of the EU. The Maltese are also confident about what lies ahead. 80% of respondents expressed confidence about their future, compared with 68% among Europeans.
87% described the financial situation of their household as positive. This contrasts greatly with the results registered in 2012 – when the percentage of families in Malta who described the financial situation of their household as negative was more than double than that observed now.
61% of the Maltese believe Malta is going in the right direction. Before the change in government in 2013, almost half the population believed that the country was going in the wrong direction. In the most recent survey, this proportion dropped to only 19%.
Notwithstanding the organised attack on state institutions and the rule of law by the PN, 58% of Maltese expressed satisfaction with the way democracy works in our country. The level of satisfaction among respondents in Malta is actually higher than the EU average. Moreover, the majority of the Maltese trust their Government, as opposed to a third of other Europeans.
Adrian Delia is wrong in trying to be populist. The results of the Eurobarometer confirm the optimism and confidence among households and businesses. Despite the negative campaigns conducted against our economy and against institutions, the results show that confidence in the Government is at a record high, and way better than the rest of the EU. Nonetheless, the Government should not underestimate the concerns of the people. On the contrary, we should use the wealth being generated to address people's desire for a better quality of life.
Alex Muscat is a Labour MP