LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS) – A majority of Maltese people (52%) support Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union but support for funding the purchase of weapons so Ukraine can defend itself from Russia’s aggression has fallen to a historic low of 46%, down 2 points from April. The percentage opposed to EU military assistance has remained stable since April at 50%.
This emerged from a recently published Eurobarometer survey held between October and November.
Maltese support for EU military assistance to Ukraine had already fallen to 51% in Autumn last year, down from 74% in May 2022, just weeks after the Russian invasion.
But support for economic sanctions against Russia (65%) and financial aid to Ukraine (66%) remain high. Moreover, most Maltese (73%) have a negative view of Russia of which only 19% hold a positive view.
Moreover, 63% of Maltese regard Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as threat to the security of their own country.
The survey also shows widespread support for the Maltese government’s response to the Russian invasion which was aligned with that of the EU (69%) while 52% are satisfied with the EU’s response to the invasion.
Overall, in the EU as a whole 58% support the EU policy of financing the delivery of weapons to Ukraine. But support ranges from 92% in Sweden to just 23% in Cyprus. Malta is one of seven member states where a majority opposes this policy.
The survey also shows that 52% of Maltese support the EU decision of granting candidate status to Ukraine. Support for EU membership for Ukraine ranges from 83% in Sweden to 34% in the Czech Republic. In the EU as a whole 60% support accepting Ukraine as a candidate to join the block.
And while the Maltese are increasingly sceptical on delivering weapons to Ukraine, they still favour enhanced military cooperation between the member states. In fact 55% of Maltese agree that the EU needs to reinforce its capacity to produce military equipment. 57% of Maltese also support a common defense and security policy involving all EU Member States, even if support for such a policy has dropped by 11 points since Spring.
This means that support for a common defense policy in Malta is now the lowest in the European Union. The vast majority (68%) of Maltese also consider the European Union as “a place of stability in a troubled world.”(ITALPRESS).
Foto: Agenzia Fotogramma
