The overwhelming majority of Maltese respondents to an EU-wide survey believe corruption in Malta is a major problem and that it is most prevalent among the planning authority, politicians and the judiciary.
The majority of Maltese think corruption is on the rise
According to the survey, 88 per cent of respondents – 14 per cent more than the EU average – think corruption is a major problem in Malta cutting across all main institutions from national to local level.
Asked to say which institutions or people they deemed to be most corrupt in Malta, a shocking 60 per cent mentioned the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, followed by politicians (52 per cent) and the judiciary (49 per cent).
On the other hand, the least corrupt people – earmarked by 17 per cent of respondents – are those working in the public education sector.
In the rest of the EU, politicians are considered as the most corrupt category (57 per cent), followed by politicians at regional level (48 per cent).
Contrary to the Maltese perception, in the EU, those issuing building permits were only mentioned by 46 per cent (14 per cent less than Malta) while the judiciary abroad is held in much higher esteem than in Malta, mentioned by 32 per cent as being corrupt – 17 per cent less than in Malta.
The survey also shows that the majority of Maltese respondents, 52 per cent, think that corruption has increased over the past three years and only five per cent think it decreased.
Half the Maltese respondents think that links between business and politicians are too close and 40 per cent say that politicians do not do enough to fight corruption.
The survey’s results also show that, for the majority of Maltese people, corruption “is unavoidable” and a “fact of life”, so much so that 83 per cent said that it always existed and could not be eradicated.
However, it seems that perceived corruption is likely to be higher than it actually is. When asked whether in the previous 12 months they had been asked for a bribe to receive some kind of service, only four per cent of Maltese respondents said they had.
Nobody reported being asked for a bribe by a politician or members of the judiciary and one per cent said they were asked to pay to obtain building permits and to get services connected to public health.
On an EU wide level, the survey’s results show that perceived corruption is high across the EU, with two thirds of respondents on average describing it as a major problem.
The highest results of perceived corruption were seen in southern EU member states with Cyprus (90 per cent) topping the list, followed by Italy (89 per cent) and Greece (88 per cent).
On the other hand, the countries with the least perceived corruption are the Nordic states, with Denmark (21 per cent), the Netherlands (33 per cent), Sweden (34 per cent) and Finland (36 per cent) thought to be the least corrupt.