Italy’s government has profoundly undermined the rule of law with changes to the judiciary and showed “heavy intolerance to media criticism”, in an emblematic example of Europe’s deepening “democratic recession”, a coalition of civil liberties groups has said.
A report by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) said Italy was one of five “dismantlers” – along with Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia – that “intentionally undermine the rule of law in nearly all aspects”.
In Hungary, long classified as an “electoral autocracy”, researchers detected “significant regression” in the rule of law in 2024. Pressure on non-governmental groups and media intensified after the launch of Hungary’s sovereignty protection office, which has broad powers to investigate Hungarians active in public life.
“Europe’s democratic recession has deepened in 2024,” Liberties said in a statement. The report, shared with the Guardian before publication, highlighted judicial systems subject to political manipulation, weak law enforcement against corruption, overuse of fast-track legislative procedures, harassment of journalists and growing restrictions on peaceful protests. “Without decisive action, the EU risks further democratic erosion,” the report – compiled by 43 human rights organisations in 21 EU member states – concluded.
Liberties began the annual exercise in 2019 to shadow the European Commission’s rule of law reports, which are meant to serve as a democratic health check on EU member states. The NGO’s six reports showed “the alarming persistence of rule of law violations throughout the European Union,” said Viktor Kazai, senior rule of law expert at Liberties. “All fundamental aspects of the rule of law have faced increasingly severe problems in the past few years,” he added, while the EU’s attempts to reverse the decline had been “disappointingly limited”.
“The most worrying category of countries” were the “dismantlers”, Kazai said, governments that were taking steps to undermine the rule of law.
In Italy, researchers highlighted how Giorgia Meloni’s government had drafted proposals to give “open-ended powers” to the justice ministry over prosecutors, which would increase political control over the judiciary. The Italian contributors also flagged “unprecedented levels of interference in public service media”, such as the cancellation of the author Antonio Scurati’s “anti-fascist manifesto” and the disciplinary case opened against the host of the talkshow in which the speech was to have been performed.
In Bulgaria, the report looked at how anti-corruption investigations were launched against prominent political opponents of the government, while long-running schemes – such as the dumping of construction waste in the Sofia municipality – continued. In Slovakia, red flags have been raised about numerous changes introduced by the government of the nationalist populist Robert Fico, including the abolition of the office of the central prosecutor and a “Russia-style” foreign agents bill that would require NGOs to bear the stigmatising label of “foreign-supported organisation” if they receive more than €5,000 (£4,200) from outside the country.
In Croatia, the integrity of the justice system was seen as damaged, after the elevation to the position of state attorney general of Ivan Turudić, a judge with close links to the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HSZ) party. The European public prosecutor’s office has complained of “Croatia’s systemic challenges in upholding the rule of law”, after Turudić’s office appeared to challenge EPPO’s right to investigate a suspected case of fraud against the EU budget.
In Romania, recent presidential elections revealed how TikTok could allow a little-known ultranationalist to surge to victory, while a bill to secure the independence of public service TV and radio has been languishing in parliament since 2021.
The report authors also warned that “role-model democracies”, including France and Germany, in north-western Europe were not immune to problems.
In France, researchers warned about the growing use of the article 49.3 procedure to push through decisions without a vote, as well as increasing restrictions on freedom of expression, introduced before the Olympics or to counter foreign interference.
In Germany, researchers praised stronger rules designed to combat “revolving doors”, where senior officials take up jobs in sectors they recently regulated. But they raised concerns about “excessive and disproportionate” responses to pro-Palestinian events, including censoring pro-Palestinian voices or denying entry to the country to the Greek former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, who had been invited to speak at such an event. Last April police shut down what would have been a three-day Palestinian conference in Berlin, fearing it would give a platform to antisemitic views.
Poland, which is attempting to roll back the assault on independent institutions, was described as a cautionary tale. The coalition government led by Donald Tusk has sought to restore judicial independence and media pluralism, but has run into conflict with the president, Andrzej Duda, who is aligned with the previous ruling party, as well as the complexities of unpicking compromised institutions. Poland “illustrates that addressing the compromised independence of institutions is an extremely challenging and fragile endeavour”, Liberties said.
The NGO is calling on the European Commission to toughen up the EU monitoring exercise by linking it to the release of EU funds, as well as accelerated legal action for violations of the rule of law.
