EU enjoys more trust than MPs and ministers among Maltese

A Eurobarometer survey says 53-55% of Maltese “tend not to trust” the MPs and ministers.

Maltese respondents have ranked energy as the main concern (42%) facing Malta in the same Eurobarometer survey. Inflation concerns ranked after energy (34%), followed by the economic situation (28%) and immigration (24%).

But immigration was chosen by only 7% as their main “personal” concern. In this section, the main personal concern shared by the majority (54%) was inflation, followed by energy 39%, and the economic situation (25%). Unemployment followed with 21%.

And according to 90% of respondents, “helping the poor and socially excluded and enabling them to play an active part in society” is the most important for the EU to exit the present financial crisis.

The survey was carried out by pollsters Miscothrough 500 face-to-face interviews between 5 and 28 May 2010, at the height of the European debt crisis.

Maltese describe the main four aspects of being an EU citizen as being able to move to any EU country and take your pension with you (31%), voting in other member states’ elections (30%), using the same cell phone in all states (28%) and harmonising the welfare system (28%).

66% of respondents judged the situation of the Maltese economy as “bad” compared to 28% who said the situation was “good”.

But 47% of respondents say EU membership is a good thing, while 30% say it is “neither good, nor bad”. 60% also said Malta had benefitted from EU, compared to 29% who say it didn’t.