The level of corruption in Malta has remained unchanged since last year, according to a report monitoring corruption around the world.
The country achieved a rating of 51 out of 100 in the 2023 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) published by Transparency International, the same score as last year.
As such, the report suggests Malta would be classified as a “flawed democracy”, as its score matched closest to the average for that type of government. On average, flawed democracies achieved a score of 48.
Countries are scored from zero to 100, with zero meaning “highly corrupt” and 100 “very clean”. The index scores countries based on how corrupt their public sector is thought to be by business leaders and experts in the field.
But while Malta’s score remained the same as last year, its overall ranking slipped one place to 55 out of the 180 countries surveyed, putting it just behind Saudi Arabia.
The only EU countries to score lower than Malta were Croatia (which achieved a score of 50), Greece (49), Romania (46), Bulgaria (45), and Hungary (42).
EU candidate countries Moldova and North Macedonia also ranked low on the list, joining Hungary with scores of 42.
Malta achieved its highest score (60) in 2015, but apart from a small improvement in 2017 has seen a trend of decline since.
In a section of the report on judicial independence, Transparency International highlighted a European Commission report which found identified issues in the justice system of eight EU countries, including Malta.
Transparency International noted that “a recent European Parliament resolution called on the Maltese authorities to step up investigations into possible instances of former public officials attempting to conceal evidence and obstruct investigations and judicial proceedings of the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.”
Discussing Western Europe and the EU as a region, the CPI said “weak accountability and political corruption” were undermining the rule of law and trust in public institutions.
"In the most alarming cases, narrow interest groups have too much control over political decision-making. In others, governments are targeting journalists, whistleblowers and other watchdogs,” it said.
Describing anti-corruption efforts in the region as having “stagnated or declined,” the report noted that only six countries saw improved scores from last year, while eight have continued to decline since 2012.
It said that even high-ranking regional democracies such as Sweden, Netherlands, Iceland and the UK recorded their lowest-ever scores.
On a global level, Transparency International said there had been a decline in justice and rule of law since 2016, highlighting a “rise in authoritarianism” and a weakening of checks and balances in democracies.
"Governments across the political spectrum have undermined justice systems, restricted civic freedoms and relied on non-democratic strategies to address recent challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic”, it said.
And overall, only 28 countries have managed to improve their score over the last 12 years while 34 have seen corruption significantly worsen.
“Despite progress made across the planet in criminalising corruption and establishing specialised institutions to address it, corruption levels remain stagnant globally."
The index had, since 1995, been Transparency International’s flagship research product and a leading global indicator of public sector corruption ranking countries and territories from all over the globe.
To determine a country’s corruption score it examines instances of bribery, diversion of public funds, officials going unpunished using public office for private gain and bureaucracy being used for corrupt purposes.
It also looks at nepotistic appointments, public officials disclosing their finances, legal protections for whistleblowers, vested interests and the level of public access to government information.
Denmark and Finland retained their position as the least corrupt, unchanged from last year.
The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation is Transparency International's Malta contact.