Exclusive: Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia actively pursue regressive policies, watchdog finds

Governments in five EU member states are “consistently and intentionally” eroding the rule of law, Europe’s leading civil liberties group has warned, while democratic standards are deteriorating in six more, including historically strong democracies.

Drawing on evidence from more than 40 NGOs in 22 countries, the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) described the governments of Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia as “dismantlers” that were actively weakening the rule of law.

The group’s 2026 report, released on Monday, said the rule of law had regressed in all areas – justice, anti-corruption, media freedom and civil society checks and balances – in Slovakia under the populist, authoritarian, pro-Moscow government of Robert Fico.

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[–] 19 points 7 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 11 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    Populism is on the rise again, like a never ending 70 year cycle.

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  • [–] 14 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    Where are you getting 70 year cycles from? This is showing something a bit different:

    trends of democratization and  autocratization as identified with the ERT method

    Source:

    https://www.v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (1 child)

    Crazy how a world embracing communications / the internet seems to correlate with the increase of autocracy. I remember when in civilisation internet was a progressive science accomplishment.

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  • [–] 10 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    The question is what to do about them? Kick them out of the EU? Diminish their power in the EU? Or just let them sit and fuck things up for everyone else?

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  • [–] 10 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Well, looking at the polls, almost every country is at risk; the right is gaining ground everywhere. Today it’s five countries, but tomorrow there could very well be more. I don’t think kicking them out is the best solution (not least because, as an Italian, I’d prefer it if you didn’t leave us to our fate)

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    boot them the fuck out. paradox of tolerance!

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    They should be put on a list and if they do not fix XYZ in x years they will lose access to the EU and Schengen money etc. All they have is cheap labor and the other countries do not need them, au contraire. They can fix their shit and reapply to join.

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  • [+] -7 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    yea because germany supporting a genocide or france's assembly doing a minute of silence for a nazi is so progressive /s

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  • [–] 11 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    This is not about being progressive or not but about respecting the rule of law. No law says that EU has to be progressive.

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  • [–] -5 points 7 months ago* (2 children)

    Are you stupid? It specifically say "Exclusive: Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia actively pursue REGRESSIVE policies, watchdog finds".

    As if the other were the vanguard of ProGrEss

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