Immigration and protection of the environment were the two biggest factors which influenced voters’ choice during the European Parliament elections in Malta in May, according to Eurobarometer survey results issued on Tuesday.

The survey was held in all EU countries. The elections saw a record turnout thanks to a surge in participation by young voters, although turnout in Malta dropped slightly.

The state of the economy and the environment were the main priorities of the voters across the EU at 44 per cent and 37 per cent of respondents respectively.

In contrast, 50 per cent of Maltese respondents put immigration as their biggest issue, followed by climate change and the environment at 47 per cent. The economy only came fourth at 31 per cent, after concerns about terrorism at 34 per cent.  

A sense of duty and support for government

As was the case across the EU, most of the survey respondents in Malta said they had voted out of a sense of duty.  But three times as many Maltese respondents as the EU average said they had voted in order to support the national government.

There appeared to be confusion in the minds of Maltese respondents about the benefits or otherwise of EU membership, perhaps harking back to the divisions before the EU accession referendum.

No one in Malta said he or she voted to express disapproval of the EU. But when asked how they viewed Malta’s membership of the EU only 54 per cent said it was ‘a good thing’, in contrast to the EU average of 59%.

35% said that membership was ‘neither a good thing nor a bad one', compared to 26 per cent in the EU as a whole.

But when asked whether their country had benefited or not from EU membership, 81 per cent of the Maltese said yes, compared to the EU average of 68 per cent.

Just 10 per cent of the Maltese said their country had not. They main benefits for Malta were seen as being job creation, economic growth and a better standard of living benefited.

Eurobarometer said that overall turnout at the European elections was 50.6% - the highest since 1994. 19 Member States registered increases in voter turnout since 2014, especially Poland, Romania, Spain, Austria, Hungary and Germany as well as Slovakia and Czechia, where turnout is traditionally very low.

Turnout in Malta was 72.6 per cent, down from 74.8 per cent in the previous elections in 2014.