Liberties’ seventh annual rule of law report assesses governments’ respect for the rule across four thematic areas: justice, corruption, media freedom, and checks and balances. The most comprehensive report by an independent civil liberties network, our 2026 report is compiled by nearly 40 rights groups from 22 EU countries.
Widening implementation gap
The overarching finding of the 2026 report follows a similar pattern to previous years: democracy is still in decline, and Member States aren’t compelled to act on the Commission’s recommendations.
To understand the breadth of the problem, this year, Liberties focused on the scale of repeated and unimplemented recommendations - alongside gaps, trends and new developments.
Our analysis revealed a widening implementation gap in which 93% of all 2025 recommendations were repetitions from previous years, with only nine new recommendations introduced. A total of 61% show no visible signs of progress, 13% were deemed to be backsliding, while no recommendations were found to have been fully implemented.
Some governments actively dismantle democracy at home
Based on their progress addressing the rule of law breaches raised in last year’s report, countries were assessed according to four pathways: ‘Hard Worker’, ‘Stagnator’, ‘Slider’ and ‘Dismantler’.
10 countries remain locked in the ‘Stagnator’ category with no meaningful progress in either direction, namely the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. The number of ‘Sliders’, comprising Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Malta and Sweden, grew by two compared to last year, a concerning signal of the waning 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 actively eroding rule of law institutions, with four of them showing no change from last year. Latvia was the only country designated as a ‘Hard Worker’.
Alarmingly, during 2025, the EU institutions themselves mirrored many of the issues seen in Member States: they normalised the use of exceptional, fast-track lawmaking, rolled back key fundamental rights protections, and led a concerted campaign against watchdog organisations.
When the institutions fail to consistently apply and defend fundamental rights, they undermine the credibility of the EU and its Rule of Law reports.
Justice: Two out of three recommendations showed no progress
Courts and the judiciary are the backbone of the rule of law. The increasingly hostile and critical public discourse towards these institutions speaks to the unwillingness of political actors in certain countries to be restrained by the law, and risks eroding this democratic cornerstone.
This trend is further underscored by the rising non-enforcement of judgments, with unimplemented European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments rising from 624 to 650. Despite this problem being more widespread, only Belgium received a Commission recommendation. Political interference in the court system was a widespread trend across the EU, as seen in concerns regarding the transparency of judicial bodies and the autonomy of prosecution services.
Anti-corruption: More than half of the recommendations showed no progress
Anti-corruption measures are at the heart of the rule of law, because corruption erodes public trust and undermines the legal frameworks designed to protect public interests.
While the overarching trend was one of stagnation, outright regression was identified in three countries, with Malta blocking inquiries, fast-track legislation and doubts over prosecutorial independence in Slovakia, and Bulgaria exhibiting a captured state. The presence of recommendations in all but two countries (Estonia and Lithuania), most stemming from 2022, demonstrates the widespread and persistent nature of corruption across the Union. A large portion of the recommendations showed no progress related to critical areas such as the enforcement of rules against high-level corruption.
Media: Two out of three recommendations showed no progress or backsliding
Media freedom is the canary in the coal mine because, as a tool of public scrutiny and an important source of information, it is one of the first pillars of the rule of law that authoritarians attempt to dismantle.
Key issues from previous years persisted: threats to media pluralism, political pressure on public service media, low transparency and misuse of state advertising expenditure, and the use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) and attacks against journalists.
The unchanging nature of the media environment is reflected in the prevalence of unimplemented recommendations: 85% of the 27 outstanding recommendations were first made in 2022, and Member States with unimplemented recommendations include traditionally strong democracies such as Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, and Ireland. Meanwhile, there has been limited progress on the implementation of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and transposition of the Anti-SLAPP Directive.
Checks and balances: Only one-fifth of recommendations showed signs of progress
Checks and balances play a crucial role in the rule of law because they serve as an early warning system when governments overstep their authority. However, this was the area with the highest level of regression, but the lowest number of recommendations. When violations in this area go unnoticed and unscrutinised, it weakens the systems designed to curb governmental overreach and risks abuses of power and gradual restrictions escalating into systemic problems.
Liberties found that the number of countries experiencing regression rose by almost 50% from nine to 13 Member States, as safeguards that limit executive power and support democratic accountability came under strain.
One of the most pervasive issues across the bloc was the use of fast-track and non-transparent legislative processes, including serious cases of deliberately undermining lawmaking processes, which resulted in problematic laws being adopted uncontested. The European Commission made zero recommendations on the right to protest, despite this being the area with the highest levels of regression.
The call is coming from inside the house
In addition to the negligible impact of the Rule of Law Cycle on counteracting democratic decline, the credibility of the EU as the guardian and standard-bearer of rule of law standards is further undermined by its own actions, including exceptional law-making procedures, questioning of the legitimacy of watchdog organisations, and double standards on foreign policy, including a failure to clearly call out violations of international law.
“For their Rule of Law Report to have a real impact and prevent further backsliding, the EU needs a stronger, more focused approach. This should include 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.”, said Kersty McCourt, Senior Advocacy Advisor at Civil Liberties Union for Europe.
Trend Analyses
EU Violations: When the Standard Bearer Starts to Slide
Standing Still: EU Anti-Corruption Efforts Stall in 2025
Civic Space and Protest Rights under Threat in 2025
Justice on Pause: Europe's courts wait for reforms that never arrive
