Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1520629
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 MAY 2024 SURVEY JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Still in love with EU 20 years on, the Maltese are positive about membership RESPONDENTS to a MaltaTo- day survey have rated Malta's ex- perience in the European Union, 20 years since accession, an av- erage 3.2 out of five points, with Labour voters rating it 3.3, a frac- tion lower than PN voters' 3.5. The favourable rating repre- sents an epochal change in at- titudes towards the European Union when compared to the di- visive referendum of 2003 when Labour campaigned against membership in the political bloc. 20 years ago, 46% had opposed EU membership in a referendum that was followed by a general election which Alfred Sant's La- bour lost with 48% of the national vote. Labour's alternative for a 'partnership' model with the EU, provided a stark contrast from full EU membership promoted by PN prime minister Eddie Fenech Ad- ami, then supported by most civil society organisations and Green party Alternattiva Demokratika. 20 years on, surveys show the cross-party consensus for EU membership, with MaltaToday's poll showing 88% rating Malta's experience highly between 3 and 5 (with 1 representing the lowest rating, and 5 the highest). The 2003 campaign had been marked by Labour's scaremon- gering about Malta being flooded by foreign workers from the EU, agriculture being wiped out in the face of cheap European im- ports, hunting and trapping be- ing severely restricted, and Mal- ta's neutrality ditched in favour of a common defence policy. On the other hand, the PN's campaign emphasised EU funding to the tune of some €240 million a year. And while some of the nega- tive predictions did materialise, membership resulted in major investments in environmental projects like sewage treatment plants and road-building, which contributed to economic stability and growth. Inside Labour, the surveys sug- gests euroscepticism is largely dead and buried, with just 10.6% of current Labour voters giving Malta's experience of EU mem- bership a score of less than 3. But both major parties harbour a eurosceptic minority, with an equal amount of PN voters (11%) giving EU membership a similar score. Among Labour voters, 47.9% of respondents rate Malta's EU ex- perience at 3 out of 5; 33.6% rated it 4, and 7.9% gave it full marks. PN voters are only marginally more positive: 33.5% rated it 3 out of 5, 46.3% gave it a score of 4, and 8.2% the full five points. But the indication is that euros- cepticism is also thriving outside the two main political parties, with non-voters in the forth- coming European elections being the most sceptical about Malta's performance in the EU. These voters give it an average score of 2.8 points. Moreover, 31.2% of non-voters give membership a score of less than 3. Curiously, a breakdown by age suggests that older respondents are the most satisfied with mem- bership, with over 65-year-olds giving the membership experi- ence a score of 3.4, in contrast to 3.1 among all other age groups. A regional breakdown also shows that satisfaction with EU membership is highest in the western region, which includes Attard, Zebbug and Rabat (3.5), and lowest in the southeastern region, which includes Zejtun, Marsaskala, and Birżebbugia (3). A breakdown by income shows that low-income respondents are slightly less positive about membership than higher-income groups. While those earning less than €1,000 a month give Malta's membership experience a rating of 3.2, those earning above €3,000 a month give it a rating of 3.6. A deal the Maltese are still happy about... Eddie Fenech Adami taking Malta into the EU in 2003 signing the EU accession treaty in 2004