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Grain de sel (en gras mettre les liens apres ok )
Etat de Droit en Europe, notre heritage mais est ce si parfait ? Un modèle en crise ?
L’Union européenne se présente comme un bastion de l’État de droit et des libertés fondamentales quasi internationales. Et c’est vrai que ce sont nos fondements (articles 2 du Traité, Charte des droits fondamentaux, primauté du droit, indépendance du juge) ; on va même jusqu’à coupler nos contrats et nos aides à la nécessité de respecter ces valeurs. Mais un peu d’introspection parait honnête en 2025 : année après année, les rapports de la Commission européenne sur le sujet et la veille d’ONG dressent un constat préoccupant.
Ce n’est plus seulement en Hongrie que l’on pourrait considérer comme vivant une situation d’exception (hélas durable) et dont les désaccords fondamentaux amènent les autres Etats, ces derniers jours, à la contourner dans les décisions stratégiques comme celles concernant la défense et l’Ukraine ; ni même en Pologne qui revient pas à pas à une situation normalisée (c’est du moins l’engagement fondamental de Donald Tusk , l’homme à la tête de l’Etat, européen convaincu qui exerce ces mois ci la présidence, que l’on observe des atteintes aux principes démocratiques. Partout sur le vieux continent, des dérives inquiétantes émergent : affaiblissement du contrôle parlementaire, pressions sur la justice, entraves à la liberté d’expression, aux medias…
Ainsi,en Italie, ces tendances ne font pas exception. La démocratie fonctionne elle vraiment pleinement? Entre tentations de concentration du pouvoir et pressions sur les contre-pouvoirs, les alertes se multiplient. L’évolution récente mérite donc une attention particulière.
L’ONG Liberties a lancé un exercice annuel en 2019 pour suivre les Rapports sur l’état de droit de la Commission européenne dont le dernier date du 24.7.2024 : COMMUNICATION DE LA COMMISSION – Rapport 2024 sur l’état de droit. Nous avions posté une analyse sur le rapport 2023.
Voici quelques constats à l’échelle européenne dans le nouveau rapport 2024
- Le recours répété à des procédures d’exception, affaiblit le contrôle parlementaire et contourne les débats démocratiques (comme le 49.3 en France).
- Les conditions électorales sont mises en cause avec des pressions et irrégularités relevées dans plusieurs États membres (Roumanie, ).
- L’indépendance judiciaire est fragilisée par des interventions politiques et des nominations controversées remettant en cause la séparation des pouvoirs (Slovaquie, Croatie).
- La liberté des médias recule sous l’effet d’ingérences croissantes, de la répression de journalistes et de restrictions sur l’accès à l’information (Italie).
- Les droits fondamentaux sont menacés par des attaques contre l’avortement, des restrictions à la liberté religieuse et des entraves aux libertés publiques.
Lire davantage : Rapport 2024 sur l’Etat de droit de la Commission Européenne.
Italy one of five ‘dismantlers’ causing ‘democratic recession’ in Europe
Civil liberties report warns that Italy along with Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia intentionally undermining rule of law ‘in nearly all aspects’ in Europe.
Italy’s government has profoundly undermined the rule of law with changes to the judiciary and showed “heavy intolerance to media criticism”, in an emblematic example of Europe’s deepening “democratic recession”, a coalition of civil liberties groups has said.
A report by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) said Italy was one of five “dismantlers” – along with Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia – that “intentionally undermine the rule of law in nearly all aspects”.
In Hungary, long classified as an “electoral autocracy”, researchers detected “significant regression” in the rule of law in 2024. Pressure on non-governmental groups and media intensified after the launch of Hungary’s sovereignty protection office, which has broad powers to investigate Hungarians active in public life.
“Europe’s democratic recession has deepened in 2024,” Liberties said in a statement. The report, shared with the Guardian before publication, highlighted judicial systems subject to political manipulation, weak law enforcement against corruption, overuse of fast-track legislative procedures, harassment of journalists and growing restrictions on peaceful protests. “Without decisive action, the EU risks further democratic erosion,” the report – compiled by 43 human rights organisations in 21 EU member states – concluded.
Liberties began the annual exercise in 2019 to shadow the European Commission’s rule of law reports, which are meant to serve as a democratic health check on EU member states. The NGO’s six reports showed “the alarming persistence of rule of law violations throughout the European Union,” said Viktor Kazai, senior rule of law expert at Liberties. “All fundamental aspects of the rule of law have faced increasingly severe problems in the past few years,” he added, while the EU’s attempts to reverse the decline had been “disappointingly limited”.
“The most worrying category of countries” were the “dismantlers”, Kazai said, governments that were taking steps to undermine the rule of law.
In Italy, researchers highlighted how Giorgia Meloni’s government had drafted proposals to give “open-ended powers” to the justice ministry over prosecutors, which would increase political control over the judiciary. The Italian contributors also flagged “unprecedented levels of interference in public service media”, such as the cancellation of the author Antonio Scurati’s “anti-fascist manifesto” and the disciplinary case opened against the host of the talkshow in which the speech was to have been performed.
In Bulgaria, the report looked at how anti-corruption investigations were launched against prominent political opponents of the government, while long-running schemes – such as the dumping of construction waste in the Sofia municipality – continued. In Slovakia, red flags have been raised about numerous changes introduced by the government of the nationalist populist Robert Fico, including the abolition of the office of the central prosecutor and a “Russia-style” foreign agents bill that would require NGOs to bear the stigmatising label of “foreign-supported organisation” if they receive more than €5,000 (£4,200) from outside the country.
In Croatia, the integrity of the justice system was seen as damaged, after the elevation to the position of state attorney general of Ivan Turudić, a judge with close links to the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HSZ) party. The European public prosecutor’s office has complained of “Croatia’s systemic challenges in upholding the rule of law”, after Turudić’s office appeared to challenge EPPO’s right to investigate a suspected case of fraud against the EU budget.
In Romania, recent presidential elections revealed how TikTok could allow a little-known ultranationalist to surge to victory, while a bill to secure the independence of public service TV and radio has been languishing in parliament since 2021.
The report authors also warned that “role-model democracies”, including France and Germany, in north-western Europe were not immune to problems.
In France, researchers warned about the growing use of the article 49.3 procedure to push through decisions without a vote, as well as increasing restrictions on freedom of expression, introduced before the Olympics or to counter foreign interference.
In Germany, researchers praised stronger rules designed to combat “revolving doors”, where senior officials take up jobs in sectors they recently regulated. But they raised concerns about “excessive and disproportionate” responses to pro-Palestinian events, including censoring pro-Palestinian voices or denying entry to the country to the Greek former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, who had been invited to speak at such an event. Last April police shut down what would have been a three-day Palestinian conference in Berlin, fearing it would give a platform to antisemitic views.
Poland, which is attempting to roll back the assault on independent institutions, was described as a cautionary tale. The coalition government led by Donald Tusk has sought to restore judicial independence and media pluralism, but has run into conflict with the president, Andrzej Duda, who is aligned with the previous ruling party, as well as the complexities of unpicking compromised institutions. Poland “illustrates that addressing the compromised independence of institutions is an extremely challenging and fragile endeavour”, Liberties said.
The NGO is calling on the European Commission to toughen up the EU monitoring exercise by linking it to the release of EU funds, as well as accelerated legal action for violations of the rule of law.
To read : Article 7 – la conditionnalité des aides pour faire respecter l’État de droit… que fait l’Europe ?
Liberties analysis of the Rule of Law Report 2025
During 2024, the newscycle mirrored democracy’s decline and the increasing political legitimacy of far-right parties and policies. For those of us witnessing this unravelling, our feeling of helplessness is understandable. Instead of listening to the public, those in power increasingly act in their own interests and play by their own rules.
There are structures designed to prevent this, from journalists investigating politicians who abuse their power, independent courts upholding the legal protections and NGOs like Liberties, who monitor whether politicians respect fundamental rights. But these systems, which collectively create a framework of democratic accountability known as the ‘rule of law’, are being weakened, neglected, or outright dismantled.
Liberties’ sixth annual rule of law report assesses how well governments respected the rule of law by documenting their efforts across six thematic areas, and reviewing the implementation of the European Commission’s recommendations from the prior year. The most comprehensive ‘shadow report’ by an independent civil liberties network, our 2025 report is compiled by 43 rights groups from 21 EU countries.
Critical rule of law buffers pulled apart
Our 2025 report found that the rule of law issues and democratic decline documented in the past years persisted.
- Justice: In several countries, political manipulation obstructed judicial independence, and across the bloc, justice systems are underperforming due to a lack of resources.
- Anti-corruption: Trust in government is marred by low prosecution of high-profile corruption cases, gaps in whistleblower protection, and inadequate enforcement of lobbying rules.
- Media freedom: This area showed the most regression. Public service media was subject to continued interferences with its independence and performance, while transparency in media ownership and market pluralism remain low.
- Checks and balances: The misuse of fast-track legislation continued in almost all countries, National Human Rights Institutions are withering at the vine due to political interference and underfunding, and election integrity undermined following disenfranchised groups and manipulated political material.
- Civic Space: Governments used smear campaigns and verbal attacks to delegitimise the work of NGOs and justify funding restrictions, and the right to protest was curtailed through excessive use of force by police and steps to formalise restrictions through changes in the law
- Human rights: The rise of right-wing fueled hostility towards migrants reverberated across the political spectrum resulting in stricter migration policies that endanger the rights of migrants and asylum seekers. Instances of discrimination and hate speech towards ethnic minorities and the LGBTQIA+ community also rose.
Democratic ‘role models’ exhibit anti-democratic tendencies
As well as providing a parallel process to the Commission’s reporting cycle, Liberties’ rule of law report is designed to identify EU-wide trends and function as an early warning alarm system for at-risk countries. To illustrate the overarching direction democracy in Europe is going, we looked at five directions countries are headed.
In the first (and slimmest) group is Estonia and the Czech Republic, who made targeted efforts to improve the rule of law. Poland can also be considered here given the initiative shown by the new government to restore democratic standards, in particular judicial independence and media pluralism. Yet, the lack of tangible progress demonstrates the challenges of rebuilding rule of law institutions once they have been hollowed out.
Next we looked at countries showing degrees of decline, stagnation or growth, but whose overall performance was consistent. This includes countries with a generally strong rule of law record, such as Ireland and the Netherlands, which largely uphold the rule of law but have at-risk areas. Then there were middle performers like Spain, and weaker democracies like Greece and Malta.
Thirdly, we grouped countries traditionally considered democratic role models, but whose recent decline in performance is troubling. This includes Belgium, Germany and Sweden, with France giving particular cause for concern following their decline in four out of six categories. This trend is particularly worrying, as their bad example emboldens countries like Hungary and Slovakia, whose governments intentionally dismantle rule of law safeguards.
Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia were grouped together given their deliberate and systemic efforts to weaken the rule of law in all areas. This included widespread smear campaigns and multiple laws, policies and funding restrictions that seriously undermine the rule of law.
And finally, Hungary belongs in a category all on its own, where democratic standards have degraded to such a degree that it would not gain access to the EU today. The Hungarian government continues to implement laws challenged by the European Commission, engages in multiple campaigns against human rights organisations and undermines the EU from within.
Bold EU leadership needed in face of turbulent geopolitical
This year’s report arrives when tectonic shifts in geopolitics compound internal difficulties as doubts mount over the U.S. as a reliable ally and multiple conflicts continue on our doorstep – posing difficult questions for the future of European security. Europe’s strength and resilience lie in its power as a unified alliance, however, Euroskeptic and ultra-nationalist far-right parties threaten cooperation.
The exigency for strong EU-level leadership is greater than ever. Restoring public trust in EU institutions, fostering effective collaboration between Member States and ensuring respect for EU values relies on a robust rule of law.
Despite the overall downward trajectory, there are shoots of hope. Our report reveals that the buffer provided by civil society, free media, judicial bodies and independent courts is slowing down the pace of erosion. And while it is an upward battle, Poland shows a change in government can kickstart rule of law rehabilitation. Our report urges the EU to reinforce this critical barrier against authoritarianism by improving its rule of law monitoring and enforcement activities and linking them to other rule of law tools, particularly legal proceedings and the EU funding conditionality mechanisms.
Reads & Resources
Previous annual rule of law reports: 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020