Corruption in Malta ‘unavoidable’, blame business and politics

FULL Eurobarometer report (157 pages)

A survey of 500 Maltese respondents back in September 2011 by the European Union's Eurobarometer has continued to cement the strong perception that corruption is an endemic and unavoidable aspect of public life, but that the EU can help tackle this problem.

Malta joined six other member states - Lithuania, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Latvia and Austria - with at least an 80% agreement that corruption is a major problem in the country.

88% of Maltese respondents agreed with this statement, although there was a drop of seven points over the 2009 Eurobarometer findings.

MAIN FINDINGS
88% agree that corruption is major problem in Malta
52% disagree they are affected by corruption in their daily life
94% say they did not pay any bribe in last 12 months
52% say corruption increased in the last three years
80% say there is corruption in national institutions
80% say there is corruption in local institutions
55% say there is corruption in regional institutions
79% say there is corruption in Malta's business culture
66% disagree that there is transparency in party financing.

The majority, 50%, believe the reason for corruption in Malta are the close links between business and politics. 40% also said this was own to MPs' inaction, 21% blamed the lack of transparency on public spending, 24% said that there is too much light sentencing, 21% said that it was down to public appointments not based on merit, 22% said corruption was part of daily life.

No respondent agreed with the statement that there is no corruption in Malta.

Additionally, 66% disagree there is sufficient transparency in party financing.

But while 21 of the 27 member states the majority of respondents disagree that the EU helps in reducing corruption within their country, the six exceptions include Malta where 38% disagree.

Still, 34% of respondents were also unable to express an opinion on whether the EU helps combat corruption (34%), and if corruption in their country is more widespread in Malta than in other EU states (32%).

One in five (20%) respondents from Malta "don't know" if there is sufficient transparency and supervision of the financing of political parties in their country.

Most notably, "Finland and Malta have had high profile corruption cases in the past from which these results suggest they are recovering," the Eurobarometer report pointed out.

Another common perception amongst Europeans is that 50% disagree that corruption in their country is more widespread than in other EU countries.

But while people in Greece are 80% prone to believe corruption within their country is more widespread than in other EU countries, Malta is the country where respondents are least likely to be able to express an opinion on this measure (32%).

While in 2009 the trend in Malta showed an increase in the proportion of respondents agreeing that there is corruption in EU institutions, Malta shows a large drop in this proportion in 2011 (around 10 points). However, the respondents unable to comment about whether there is corruption inside the EU has grown from 19% to 32%.

Since the 2009 survey, those countries with the biggest changes in terms of the proportions of respondents mentioning that they agree or disagree that corruption is unavoidable and has always existed are Malta ( 6 points on agreement, -9 points on disagreement), Cyprus, Bulgaria, Finland and Poland.

The Maltese also trust the police to handle their corruption reports (49%), but less the judicial system (22%) while the Ombudsman comes in third with 22% of respondents saying they trust it most to provide a solution for their case. MPs at 8% came one before the last avenue of recourse, the EU at 6%.