{"id":2659,"date":"2025-03-17T09:48:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T09:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pilp.nu\/?p=2659"},"modified":"2025-03-17T10:09:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T10:09:31","slug":"democracy-in-decline-liberties-rule-of-law-report-2025-exposes-serious-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pilp.nu\/en\/democracy-in-decline-liberties-rule-of-law-report-2025-exposes-serious-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy in Decline: Liberties\u2019 Rule of Law Report 2025 Exposes Serious Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025 <em>Rule of Law Report <\/em>by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (&#8216;<strong>Liberties<\/strong>&#8216;) that was published today, reveals a concerning picture: democratic institutions in the EU continued to weaken in 2024 due to government neglect or active dismantling. The report, compiled by 43 human rights organisations\u2014including PILP as a member of Liberties\u2014provides a critical assessment of justice, media freedom, checks and balances, civic space, and human rights across 21 EU countries.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Bal\u00e1zs D\u00e9nes, Executive Director of Liberties, warns: <em>&#8220;The entrenched decline in the rule of law coincides with the rise of far-right populism and growing geopolitical tensions. The European Commission must enhance its enforcement mechanisms to prevent further erosion of democratic principles.&#8221;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.liberties.eu\/f\/vdxw3e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Liberties Rule of Law Report 2025<\/em> is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A direct download of the <a href=\"https:\/\/pilp.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ROL25_Netherlands.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Netherlands chapter can be accessed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Key Findings:<\/h3>\n<ul data-spread=\"false\">\n<li><strong>Political Interference in Justice<\/strong>: Courts remain under pressure due to political smears, insufficient funding, and legal barriers to access.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Corruption &amp; Transparency Issues<\/strong>: Weak law enforcement and inadequate whistleblower protections undermine trust in institutions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Media Freedom Under Threat<\/strong>: Government influence and ownership concentration limit journalistic independence, with increasing harassment of journalists.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Weakening of Democratic Safeguards<\/strong>: Fast-track legislation, compromised regulatory bodies, and electoral system concerns erode accountability.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Civic Space Shrinking<\/strong>: Crackdowns on protests, restrictive laws, and smear campaigns threaten fundamental rights.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Human Rights at Risk<\/strong>: Stricter migration policies, rising discrimination, and hate speech disproportionately affect minorities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Country Trends:<\/h3>\n<ul data-spread=\"false\">\n<li><strong>Hungary <\/strong>remains the worst performer, with intensified attacks on judicial independence, civil society, and media.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Slovakia<\/strong> systematically undermine the rule of law.<\/li>\n<li>Even established democracies like <strong>Belgium, France, Germany, and Sweden<\/strong> show worrying declines in certain areas.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Poland <\/strong>struggles to reverse past damage, highlighting the difficulty of restoring institutional independence.<\/li>\n<li>Some progress was noted in <strong>Estonia and the Czech Republic<\/strong>, demonstrating the role of civil society in positive change.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Greece, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, and Spain<\/strong> stagnate or made only minimal progress in their rule of law indicators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025 Rule of Law Report by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (&#8216;Liberties&#8216;) that was published today, reveals a concerning picture: democratic institutions in the EU continued to weaken in 2024 due to government neglect or active dismantling. The report, compiled by 43 human rights organisations\u2014including PILP as a member of Liberties\u2014provides a critical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[238,240,227,239],"sk_connection":[],"class_list":["post-2659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-items","tag-liberties","tag-network","tag-report","tag-rule-of-law"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Democracy in Decline: Liberties\u2019 Rule of Law Report 2025 Exposes Serious Concerns - PILP<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The 2025 Rule of Law Report by Liberties that was published today, reveals a concerning picture: democratic institutions in the EU continued to weaken in 2024 due to government neglect or active dismantling.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pilp.nu\/en\/democracy-in-decline-liberties-rule-of-law-report-2025-exposes-serious-concerns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democracy in Decline: Liberties\u2019 Rule of Law Report 2025 Exposes Serious Concerns - 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