As Liberties’ rule of law reports have documented over consecutive years, democracy within the EU has progressively worsened. The EU has taken commendable measures, such as the European Democracy Action Plan and the establishment of the rule of law conditionality mechanism.

However, for a number of reasons, including patchy implementation, a hesitancy to be seen as interfering in national affairs, and the underfunding of civic actors, this hasn’t produced consistent results. The responsibility for safeguarding democracy is also fragmented, and it becomes reduced to a bargaining chip during negotiations for other policy areas. Consequently, the EU still lacks an effective strategy to bolster democratic resilience and counteract the rise in authoritarian tendencies within the bloc.

Democracy as a public good

To bridge this gap, Liberties proposes reconceptualising democracy as a European Public Good. As this discussion paper lays out, such an ambitious shift would acknowledge democracy’s role as a crucial foundation for the EU’s priorities. This reframing would place democracy at the same level of importance as existing public goods, such as energy and healthcare systems, thereby unlocking new opportunities for strategic investment and improving policy coherence. It would also allow the EU to mainstream democracy support throughout its instruments and significantly expand dedicated funding in the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

Most importantly, defining democracy as a shared public infrastructure underscores the role of institutions, processes, and democratic actors as strategic assets vital to Europe’s long-term security, prosperity, and social cohesion. This reframing sharpens the EU’s responsibility to protect and strengthen democracy and justifies treating it as a policy area requiring a systematic approach and dedicated spending.

The upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) offers a crucial opportunity to incorporate ‘democratic infrastructure’ to a much wider extent, regarding it as a form of strategic investment rather than democracy support, as is currently the case.

With this paper, Liberties calls on the EU to urgently change its approach to safeguarding democracy before it is damaged beyond repair, a result whose consequences will be felt across all the bloc’s policy areas.

Read the paper in full here.