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?? London, Paris, Berlin ??

That’s quite a difference to most other European countries

The difference being that you personally are not prejudiced against them for no other reason than your ignorance and arrogance.

maltesegirlon OpenAI and Government of Malta partner to roll out ChatGPT Plus to all citizens

Most corruption that I have been witness to, both in Malta and abroad falls into two categories: nepotism and procurement/tenders. Both of these are extremely common to the point that most don't even consider them corruption. For context, I work in academia, so I am sort of by proxy employed with local/federal governments and am therefore privy to how procurement deals are made. There is nothing that happens in Malta that doesn't also happen in Germany or in any other country I have worked in. If anything in Malta someone is always going to cry foul, whereas if you're witnessing corruption at the municipal or state level in Germany, it mostly flies under the radar.

maltesegirlon OpenAI and Government of Malta partner to roll out ChatGPT Plus to all citizens

The problem is that while the US and UK are well known countries with lots of press coverage, Malta isn't, so when you link one article in a foreign publication you are getting a highly distorted and politically charged view of a country you otherwise know nothing about.

maltesegirlon OpenAI and Government of Malta partner to roll out ChatGPT Plus to all citizens

This article gives a distorted view of my country. We have a largely normal government with normal levels of corruption. You can compare Malta to a municipality in a big country. I have lived in many north western European countries and at the municipal level I personally witnessed the same levels of corruption, that in my native Malta would be considered the biggest scandal of the year. It's all a matter of framing, propaganda and geopolitics.

maltesegirlon Lee Kuan Yew on Malta

I just want to address point 1. It's true that the government is a big employer, but most of those jobs have really low salaries and according few working hours. 99% of those people have a second or third job. I find it an interesting system. The government job is their safety net, and acts almost like a basic income, which allows people to be more entrepreneurial. It would be interesting to study the effect of such a system on economic growth.

And I categorically disagree with you regarding your claim that the Maltese depend on the government to figure it out for them. The Maltese are in comparison to pretty much everyone in Europe, one of the most entrepreneurial and go-getter cultures who love to "do it themselves" and "figure it out". If you want to see governments babysitting their citizens, go visit pretty much any N.W.E country.

What's true about the Maltese is that many have no qualms about bad mouthing their country in front of foreigners, which is also an almost unique trait compared to the rest of Europe. But I notice, it's mostly people who never left home who are the loudest bad mouthers.

Let me just say one more thing. We have one of the most amazing healthcare systems in the whole world. I have lived in all the most modern countries and have in my more than a decade abroad never experienced anything better. I don't know why people don't talk about it more. Probably because it exposes health insurance for the scam industry that it is. For the curious: we have an NHS style system which is amazing by itself because healthcare is one of the things that Maltese people are well trained in and care deeply about, and it's supported by a fully private industry of healthcare providers, which, because they are competing with "free" have comparatively low pricing. Compared to the absolute nightmare that is healthcare in Germany for example, it's an amazing system. I pretty much end up flying home for any treatment because waiting lists are way shorter than anywhere else and the staff much more professional.

maltesegirlon Lee Kuan Yew on Malta

You might want to check on /r/malta or Facebook groups. There's honestly probably thousands of American citizens in Malta. Especially if you count Maltese ex-diaspora who returned back for retirement or their children or grandchildren.

maltesegirlon Lee Kuan Yew on Malta

The culture surrounding temp work couldn't be more different, however. Singapore is an extremely classist and racist place. Malta is probably the least racist country in the EU/Europe. I have toured the whole of Europe for work and it amazes me how accommodating we are to temp workers over here. Many of them speak neither of our two main languages (Maltese and English) and we employ them anyway. You can even get people in customer facing positions who can only communicate with hand gestures due to their lack of language skills and that's fine by us. That would be unthinkable in any other country that I have ever lived in.

It's probably because we Maltese have a history of being temp workers ourselves all over the Anglo sphere. Moreover we are a very entrepreneurial people who value substance over trivialities.

Also worth noting that despite having a huge proportion of foreigners we have not experienced any significant criminal elements stemming from these demographics. Probably because unlike in places like Germany and Sweden, we give our foreign residents hope in the form of jobs, instead of keeping them jailed in beurocracy limbo. And you won't find any Maltese bitching about foreigners not integrating, as you will find in all classes of society in places like Sweden and Germany. It's immaterial to us, and we are smart enough to realize that that is not the source of the trouble that those countries are facing.

For all its problem this is one aspect where I believe my country shines in comparison to others.