Confidentiality before transparency? 45% say so

45% of the Maltese believe that information about state aid received by companies should remain confidential “as it is a matter between public authorities and companies”.

The 45% total in Malta compares to the average 26% of respondents in all EU 28 member states who expressed the same view.

This emerges from a Europe-wide survey conducted by the European Commission in June 2016.

In all countries, a majority of respondents disagree that information about state aid received by companies should remain confidential.

In this study state state aid was defined as “support in any form given by public authorities at any level to selected companies.”

Respondents in Sweden (84%), Spain (78%), Slovenia (77%), The Netherlands (77%) and Greece (76%) were the most likely to disagree, while those in Malta (49%), Poland (52%) and Romania (55%) were the least likely to. 

But paradoxically when asked whether citizens should have full information about state aid to companies, 89% of Maltese replied in the affirmative.  

Moreover 69% of Maltese believe that the most effective way of ensuring transparency on state aid is that “the information is automatically made publicly available”.

The paradox of wanting full access to information as well as considering it should remain confidential is evident in a number of countries. For example, at least a third of respondents in Malta (45%), Austria (36%), Poland (36%), Romania (34%), Slovakia (34%), and Italy (33%) agree that information about state aid received should remain confidential, even though more than three quarters in each of these countries agree citizens should have full access to information about state aid granted to companies. 

The report attributes this to the complexity of data protection issues.

When asked in which sector there is a need for more transparency on state aid, the sectors most mentioned by the Maltese were energy (50%) and health (64%) – two sectors which have been partly privatised under the tutelage of former health and energy minister Konrad Mizzi.