The European Union continued to face significant challenges to the rule of law in 2021. As a network organisation with 18 members based in Europe and engaged in democracy support, the rule of law crisis has been of fundamental importance to the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD). EPD member organisations have been working hard to monitor the developments on the rule of law across the EU, as well as to provide input to the European Commission’s consultative process.
The following statement sets out our top-level concerns across the EU on the rule of law, urging the Commission to include these in the 2022 Rule of Law Report.
Our main recommendations to the Commission are:
- Recognise the connection between rule of law, democracy, and human rights
- Condemn the contestation of authority and non-implementation of European regional court decisions
- Address the issue of closing civic space in the EU
- Put forward strong recommendations for Member States regarding SLAPPs
- Analyse the rule of law aspects of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic measures
- Acknowledge that the decline in rule of law performance goes beyond Poland and Hungary
- Meaningfully include civil society in the Rule of Law Report process
