Malta saw the largest drop of people who perceive corruption as having increased over the last three years, though corruption is still viewed as being widespread.
A Eurobarometer survey published this month charts how half of Maltese respondents feel corruption has increased, down from 74% when fieldwork for the previous survey was carried out in December 2019. This figure is, however, still higher than the EU average of 41%.
Although this 24-percentage point drop was the largest registered in the EU, there was a 16-percentage point increase in people saying that corruption levels have remained the same in the past three years.
The number of people saying corruption levels remained steady now stands at 30%, while 13% said it has decreased, up from just 1% in 2019, and 7% do not know.
The fieldwork of the previous 2019 survey coincided with the downfall of then prime minister Joseph Muscat, whose office had become embroiled in murder and corruption accusations linked to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Corruption impacts 34% of people daily
Despite the drop in people who view corruption as being on the increase, the majority of Maltese – 79% – still said they see corruption as being widespread, down from 89% in the last survey.
The EU average is 68%.
Political parties, politicians and officials awarding public tenders are seen as the top three sources of corruption in Malta.
Just over a third of people said they are impacted by corruption daily, which puts the country above the EU average of 24%. The Maltese figure represents a drop of 20 percentage points when compared to the 2019 survey.
Malta’s efforts to deal with corruption also received a thumbs down, with only 38% of people saying they agree that the government’s efforts to fight it are effective.
The highest approval rating when it came to the effectiveness of combatting corruption was in Finland at 50%, while the EU average is 31%.
What leads to corruption
The majority of people at 84% pinpointed the close ties between business and politics as leading to corruption, with 76% saying favouritism and corruption hamper competition among businesses.
Corruption is seen as being part of the business culture in Malta by 72% of people, which is 11 percentage points higher than the EU average.
While across the EU, 53% of people feel that the only way to succeed in business is to have political connections, the figure shoots up to 63% in Malta, down from 70% in 2019.
An inquiry into the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia last July showed how top officials in the Labour government had bent over backwards to accommodate big business.
None of the inquiry’s recommendations to introduce stricter rules to regulate lobbying and the interaction between politics and big business, including the introduction of unexplained wealth orders, have been implemented by the government.
Experiencing bribery
The survey found that 15% of Maltese know someone who takes or has taken a bribe, which is higher than the EU average of 11%.
A further 6% of respondents say they have had to make an extra payment or a gift to receive medical care, marginally above the EU average of 4%.
Malta places in fourth place when it comes to experiencing corruption, as just over one in 10 respondents (12%) say they have experienced or witnessed corruption in the last year. This is double the EU average of 6%.
Malta is one percentage point below the EU average when it comes to tolerance for corruption, with 62% of Maltese saying it is unacceptable,
Just over half of the respondents in Malta – 52% – claim they would not know where to report a case of corruption if they were to witness one.
According to the survey, the top reasons for not reporting corruption are that it is difficult to prove, reporting it would be pointless and a lack of protection for those who do report corruption.
The police, the justice system and the ombudsman were identified as the three most favoured avenues for reporting corruption, with the media ranking in fourth place.