The new rule of law report from the European Civil Liberties Union (Liberties) paints a bleak picture for 2025: In large parts of the EU, fundamental democratic values are stagnant or in decline.
Liberties’ seventh annual Rule of Law Report assesses governments’ respect for the rule of law in four thematic areas: justice, corruption, media freedom and checks and balances. The most comprehensive report from an independent civil liberties network, the 2026 report is compiled by nearly 40 rights groups from 22 EU countries.
The overall finding of the 2026 report follows a similar pattern to previous years: democracy is still in decline and Member States are not acting on the Commission's recommendations.
To understand the scope of the problem, this year, Liberties focused on the scale of repeated and unimplemented recommendations – alongside gaps, trends and new developments.
The analysis revealed a widening implementation gap in which 93% of all 2025 recommendations were repeats from previous years, with only nine new recommendations introduced. A total of 61% showed no visible signs of progress, 13% were considered to have regressed, while no recommendations were found to have been fully implemented.
Some governments are actively dismantling democracy.
Based on their progress in addressing rule of law violations reported in last year's report, countries were assessed according to four characteristics: 'Hard Worker', 'Stagnator', 'Slider' and 'Dismantler'.
10 countries remain locked in the 'Stagnator' category with no substantial progress in any direction, namely the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Spain.
The number of “Sliders”, which include Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Malta and Sweden, increased by two compared to last year, a worrying sign of the declining importance of the rule of law in traditionally strong democracies.
The five “Dismantlers”, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia, represent the most serious concern, as these countries are eroding the institutions of the rule of law, with four of them showing no change since last year.
Latvia was the only country to be classified as a 'Hard Worker'.
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
