The vast majority of people in Malta, 83%, believe health should be prioritised over the economy when it comes to Covid-19 restrictions, compared to the EU average of 58%.

Only 16% of Maltese believed the economic damage of restrictive measures was greater than the health benefits, compared to the EU average of 41%.

This is despite the fact that more than half the Malta respondents to an EU Barometer survey said they were either already financial impacted (33%) or expect to have an impact in the future (23%), in line with the EU average.

Malta was found to have remained largely pro-EU in the survey, with 73% saying they were satisfied by the measures taken by the EU in this pandemic, and 63% felt satisfied with the solidarity shown between countries.

Ninety-one percent of Maltese also want to give more powers to the EU to deal with crises like Covid-19, compared to the EU average of 74%. The Maltese have urged the European Parliament to ensure more competences on public health (54%) and climate change (48%), followed by migration (31%).

Malta was the second country most likely to want to give the EU more powers, after Portugal.

Interestingly, 46% of people in Malta said that things were going in the right direction in the EU, up from 24% in 2020. Only 22% of Maltese think things in the EU are going in the wrong direction.

Conversely, only 36% of people in Malta think that things on the island are going in the right direction and 46% think things are going in the wrong direction.

In Malta, 65% of respondents said they felt “uncertainty”, the second country after Greece to mention this sentiment, compared to the EU average of 45%.

The survey was held with 500 respondents through a combination of face-to-face and online polling.

What do you think of these results?