Maltese split over Turkey's EU accession

Maltese public opinion is far less favourable to the accession of Turkey than to the other EU candidate countries and prospective members such as Croatia and Macedonia, an EU survey has shown.

The survey was conducted to assess the opinions of European citizens towards further enlargement of the Union.

It shows that the Maltese population is almost evenly split on Turkey's possible accession. Only 35 per cent of respondents said they favoured such a move, while 31 per cent opposed it.

The EU-wide survey, which forms part of the Eurobarometer series, was conducted in Malta by Misco last April. A total of 500 respondents took part.

Among the candidate and prospective members, Croatia enjoys by far the highest approval rating of the Maltese, at 53 per cent. Macedonia came in second, with 51 per cent in favour of it joining, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina (49 per cent), Serbia (46 per cent) and Albania (45 per cent). The trend against Turkey was shared by populations in the other EU member states, with public opinion in some of the "old" member states even less favourable and Turkey's accession generating the most disapproval overall. A total of 48 per cent opposed while 39 per cent were in favour of Turkey's entry even if it were to comply with all conditions set by the EU.

The strongest opposition is in Austria (81 per cent), Germany (69 per cent) and in Luxemburg (69 per cent). Cyprus (68 per cent) and Greece (67 per cent) are also fairly against Turkey's membership, even though they support the accession of other countries in general.

Turkey formally started its accession negotiations with the EU last year although little progress has been achieved so far. Diplomats have already said that negotiations with Turkey will take more than a decade to be concluded. Countries such as France and Austria have promised to put Turkey's membership question to a referendum before granting their approval.

The Eurobarometer survey also showed that EU citizens are not well informed about the current process of enlargement. Two thirds of respondents said they did not feel well informed and in Malta 79 per cent said they knew little or nothing about the next EU enlargement process.

Nevertheless, a relative majority of the EU population was generally in favour of enlargement, although significant differences exist between countries.

Public opinion is much more in favour of enlargement in Greece, Spain and Denmark than in Germany, Luxembourg and France.