Democratic health report on EU states 'paints too rosy a picture'

The European Commission's annual audit of democratic standards across the bloc is overly positive and ultimately ineffective because it is not tied to any kind of enforcement mechanism, a leading civil liberties network has said.

- Jon Henley

The yearly rule of law reports were launched five years ago and are presented by the commission as a key weapon in its armoury against democratic backsliding, including corruption and attacks on independent media and judiciary.

But Liberties, an EU-wide network of civil liberties organisations, has pointed to several “significant deficiencies”.

“The commission's annual rule of law report is certainly useful for detecting violations - it's effective as a monitoring exercise,” said Viktor Kazai, Liberties' rule of law expert. “It has country-specific recommendations; that's great.”