Infrastructure

Across the globe, civic space is under pressure. This trend not only limits citizens’ ability to exercise fundamental rights but also erodes accountability and weakens democracy. The forthcoming EU Civil Society Strategy offers a crucial opportunity. To ensure that civil society can thrive as a watchdog, partner, and innovator, the EU must move beyond piecemeal support and mainstream civic space protection across all internal and external policies, while also supporting the wider enabling environment for civil society.

On 12 November, the European Commission presented its long-awaited European Democracy Shield, representing the EU’s umbrella agenda for democracy support for the duration of this commission’s mandate. Here is an overview of our recommendations and the extent to which the newly minted Shield has included them.

EPD and a group of 48 organisations working to support and develop democracy welcome the European Commission’s initiative to create a European Democracy Shield as a coordinated effort to support democracy in and around Europe. This initiative is particularly relevant in the current context of global democratic backsliding.

When the European Union first proposed a standalone Regulation on the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA), expectations were high: the initiative was meant to demonstrate the EU’s commitment to protecting democracy in the digital age and addressing specific risks to electoral integrity. As the Regulation enters into application on 10 October 2025, its prospects appear shaky.

International Democracy Day 2025 in Brussels offered both a sobering reality check and a source of renewed inspiration. Over two days of high-level panels and lightning talks, some 400 democracy activists, organisations, academics and politicians from around the world debated how to strengthen democracy at a time of crisis.

If there were a word to describe the current political climate, it would be ‘change’: technological, geopolitical and socio-economic. The status quo is over, and politics is struggling to adapt. It is against this background that the EPD Annual Conference 2025 gathered some of the most insightful minds on democracy and politics to take stock of the lessons learned from the past and gather ideas for rebooting democracy support together. Here are our main takeaways from the day. 

With the steady erosion of democratic processes and freedoms across the world, words and good intentions will only go so far. It is essential to integrate fundamental rights and democratic governance across EU policy areas. The EU and Member States need to dedicate resources in a more efficient and strategic way to respond more effectively to threats through the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework. 

Each year, the European Democracy Hub publishes a review of European democracy support policies, examining policies, strategies, and initiatives of the EU as well as those of its member states and non-EU European countries active in democracy support.