Positivity about the future and the state of the European Union may not be at a high-point right now – except, according to a recent survey, in Malta, which stands out as a pinprick of optimism amid the gloom.
Nearly two-thirds of Maltese people surveyed in a recent Europe-wide report on the condition of the EU believed the country was moving in the right direction. This was the highest rate in Europe.
In stark contrast, pessimists were in the majority in 20 countries, and across Europe, nearly two-thirds of those asked claimed that things were going in the wrong direction.
Project-28, conducted by Hungarian think tank Századvég Foundation and polling firm Millward Brown, polled more than 28,000 EU citizens (1,000 in Malta) between January and February of this year. The study aimed to assess how global challenges, including migration and terrorism, had affected public opinion across Europe.
Local respondents were among the most optimistic on a large number of issues: just under half of Maltese people felt the EU was doing a good or excellent job handling the immigration crisis (compared to the EU average of just 19 per cent), and 82 per cent gave a similar assessment of its...
