Governments in five EU member states are \u201cconsistently and intentionally\u201d eroding the rule of law, Europe\u2019s leading civil liberties group has warned, while democratic standards are deteriorating in six more, including historically strong democracies.<\/p>\n
Drawing on evidence from more than 40 NGOs in 22 countries, the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) described the governments of Bulgaria<\/a>, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia as \u201cdismantlers\u201d that were actively weakening the rule of law.<\/p>\n The group\u2019s 2026 report<\/a>, released on Monday, said the rule of law had regressed in all areas \u2013 justice, anti-corruption, media freedom and civil society checks and balances \u2013 in Slovakia under the populist, authoritarian, pro-Moscow government of Robert Fico.<\/p>\n The picture was similarly bleak in Bulgaria, while Hungary<\/a>, where Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s 16 years in power could end after elections on 12 April, \u201cremains in a category of its own, continuing to pursue ever more regressive laws and policies with no sign of change\u201d.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Liberties identified Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Sweden, all countries with strong democratic traditions, as \u201csliders\u201d: places where the rule of law is declining in some areas, without erosion being part of an overall political strategy.<\/p>\n The Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain were all classified as \u201cstagnators\u201d, defined as countries where rule-of-law conditions were neither improving nor deteriorating, the 800-page report said.<\/p>\n The Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n speaks at an election campaign rally in Gy\u0151r on 27 March. Photograph: Bernadett Szab\u00f3\/Reuters<\/p>\n Poland also fell into that category, with the prime minister, Donald Tusk, trying to restore key elements of the rule of law \u2013 such as an independent judiciary \u2013 dismantled by the former Law and Justice (PiS) government, but being hampered by presidential veto.<\/p>\n Poland\u2019s limited progress so far \u201cshows just how challenging and fragile it can be to restore compromised institutional independence\u201d, Liberties said. Only Latvia merited \u201chard worker\u201d status, with a government actively improving rule-of-law standards.<\/p>\n The report also said the EU\u2019s mechanisms for addressing erosion or rule of law were largely ineffective, with most member states failing to turn guidance into tangible action despite several years of recommendations from the European Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n It found that 93% of all recommendations in the EU executive\u2019s own 2025 rule of law report were repeats from previous years, many carried over with no change in the wording, while the number of new recommendations had fallen by half since 2024.<\/p>\n Out of 100 commission recommendations assessed by Liberties, 61 showed zero progress, while 13 more were deteriorating. \u201cThe commission\u2019s report was meant to prompt concrete action,\u201d said Ilina Neshikj, Liberties\u2019 executive director.<\/p>\n But after seven annual editions, Liberties\u2019 findings highlight \u201cnot only backsliding, but also ongoing and deliberate efforts to undermine the rule of law. Repeating recommendations without meaningful follow-up will not reverse this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The report also criticised EU institutions in general, saying that in 2025 they had not only \u201cmirrored many of the issues seen in member states\u201d, but had also failed to consistently apply and defend fundamental rights.<\/p>\n \u201cThey normalised the use of exceptional, fast-track lawmaking, rolled back key fundamental rights protections, and led a concerted campaign against watchdog organisations,\u201d said Kersty McCourt, Liberties\u2019 senior advocacy adviser.<\/p>\n When that happens, McCourt added, the institutions \u201cundermine the credibility of the EU and of its own rule of law reports\u201d.<\/p>\n Liberties found rule-of-law conditions had deteriorated most in 2025 in the democratic \u201cchecks and balances\u201d pillar: independent NGOs and civil society being able to organise, challenge decisions and hold governments to account.<\/p>\n A pride parade goes ahead in Budapest in June 2025 despite a ban. Photograph: J\u00e1nos Kummer\/Getty<\/p>\n Regressive legislation and strong penalties for attending banned protests were increasing, it found, including in Hungary, where Pride events were banned and their organisers, including the mayor of Budapest, placed under formal investigation.<\/p>\n In Italy<\/a>, a highly restrictive security decree was adopted criminalising road blockades and other forms of dissent but strengthening guarantees for police. In several member states, climate and pro-Palestine protesters faced bans and criminalisation.<\/p>\n The justice pillar, too, showed a lack of progress, Liberties said, highlighting in particular what it called \u201can emerging trend of increasingly critical or hostile political discourse towards the judiciary and human rights institutions\u201d.<\/p>\n It found little progress either on anti-corruption efforts. And on media freedom, only a small number of states had made measurable improvements. Attacks on journalists increased in Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, the Netherlands and, especially, Slovakia<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Governments in five EU member states are \u201cconsistently and intentionally\u201d eroding the rule of law, Europe\u2019s leading civil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-859784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116316694628321355","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}