Four of the five European Union countries identified as actively “dismantling” democratic safeguards are located in Central and Southeast Europe, highlighting deepening regional fault lines in the bloc’s rule of law crisis, according to a new study by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe. 

The NGO, known as Liberties, found that Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia, alongside Italy, fall into its most severe category of concern. Its findings underline persistent challenges in parts of Central and Southeast Europe, even as concerns about democratic standards spread more broadly across the EU.

“The five ‘Dismantlers’… represent the most serious concern, as these countries are actively eroding rule of law institutions,” the report said, adding that four of them showed “no change from last year”. 

Democracy in decline

Overall, Liberties’ annual Rule of Law Report, compiled by nearly 40 rights groups across 22 countries, paints a bleak picture of governance trends across the bloc.

“The overarching finding… follows a similar pattern to previous years: democracy is still in decline,” the report said, warning that EU member states are “not compelled to act on the Commission’s recommendations”. 

A central concern is what the authors describe as a “widening implementation gap” between EU recommendations and national action.

According to the report, “93% of all 2025 recommendations were repetitions from previous years,” while “a total of 61% show no visible signs of progress” and “no recommendations were found to have been fully implemented”. In addition, 13% of recommendations were classified as backsliding.

Diverging trajectories

The report groups EU countries into four categories based on their performance: “Hard Worker”, “Stagnator”, “Slider” and “Dismantler”. 

Only one country — Latvia — was classified as a “Hard Worker”, showing consistent progress. By contrast, 10 countries were labelled “Stagnators”, including Poland, Slovenia and Spain, with “no meaningful progress in either direction”. 

Meanwhile, the number of “Sliders”, countries where conditions are deteriorating, increased to include states such as France and Germany, a trend the report calls “a concerning signal of the waning importance of the rule of law in traditionally strong democracies”. 

The report highlights mounting challenges in the area of justice, describing courts as “the backbone of the rule of law” but warning that they are increasingly under political pressure. It points to “increasingly hostile and critical public discourse” toward judicial institutions, as well as growing political interference in court systems and prosecution services.

The failure to enforce court rulings is also a concern. The number of unimplemented judgments from the European Court of Human Rights has risen from 624 to 650, the report says. 

Overall, “two out of three recommendations showed no progress” in the justice sector.

Persistent corruption concerns

Corruption remains another major issue across the bloc. “Anti-corruption measures are at the heart of the rule of law,” the report states, but progress has been limited, with “more than half of the recommendations” showing no improvement.

The report identifies outright regression in several countries, citing examples such as Malta blocking inquiries, concerns over prosecutorial independence in Slovakia, and “a captured state” in Bulgaria.

It adds that the widespread nature of the problem is reflected in the fact that recommendations on corruption exist in almost all member states.

“A large portion of the recommendations showed no progress related to critical areas such as the enforcement of rules against high-level corruption,” the report says.

The media landscape across the EU also remains under strain. “Media freedom is the canary in the coal mine,” the report says, as it is often “one of the first pillars of the rule of law that authoritarians attempt to dismantle”. 

Key concerns include political pressure on public broadcasters, lack of transparency in media ownership, and the misuse of state advertising funds. Legal threats against journalists, including Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), also persist.

According to the report, “two out of three recommendations showed no progress or backsliding” in this area, while 85% of outstanding recommendations date back to 2022. Even countries traditionally seen as strong democracies are affected, with unimplemented recommendations noted in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Ireland.

Checks and balances weaken

The most significant deterioration was observed in the area of checks and balances. The report describes this as “the area with the highest level of regression,” with the number of countries experiencing decline rising by nearly 50%.

Checks and balances serve as “an early warning system when governments overstep their authority,” but weakening safeguards are allowing potential abuses of power to go unchecked.

Among the most widespread issues is the use of accelerated legislative procedures. Liberties highlights “the use of fast-track and non-transparent legislative processes,” including cases where governments deliberately bypass scrutiny, resulting in laws being adopted “uncontested.”

The report also turns its focus on EU institutions themselves, arguing that they are contributing to the problem.

“During 2025, the EU institutions themselves mirrored many of the issues seen in member states,” it says, citing the “normalised use of exceptional, fast-track lawmaking,” as well as “a concerted campaign against watchdog organisations”. 

The report warns that such actions risk undermining the EU’s credibility as a defender of democratic standards.

“When the institutions fail to consistently apply and defend fundamental rights, they undermine the credibility of the EU and its Rule of Law reports,” it says.

It also points to “double standards on foreign policy” and a failure to consistently call out violations of international law.

The report concludes that the EU’s current rule of law mechanisms are insufficient to halt democratic decline.

“For their Rule of Law Report to have a real impact and prevent further backsliding, the EU needs a stronger, more focused approach,” said Kersty McCourt of Liberties.

She called for “systematic reporting, clear recommendations with measurable benchmarks, and consistent steps to trigger legal or other action when countries fail to comply”. 

“Only then can the Rule of Law Report function as the preventive tool it was originally intended to be,” she added.

The findings come at a time when the EU is grappling with multiple internal and external challenges, from geopolitical tensions to debates over enlargement and institutional reform. Taken together, the trends point to what Liberties describes as a systemic issue rather than isolated cases.

Without stronger enforcement and political will, as the report says, the EU risks seeing further erosion of democratic norms across the bloc, including in regions where they were once considered secure.