EU’s Rule of Law Report 'becoming less responsive to emerging challenges'

EU infringement proceedings should be instituted against EU member states failing to protect journalists and media freedom, the Civil Liberties Union for Europe group has insisted.

Liberties is a Berlin-based group with member organisations across the EU, including Malta, campaigning on human and digital rights issues such as the rule of law, media freedom, civic space, SLAPPs, political advertising, AI, and mass surveillance.  

 “When recommendations on media freedom and pluralism are repeatedly ignored, without any repercussions for the country, they lose all meaning”, Liberties said in a new report, Gap Analysis: The European Commission’s Rule of Law Report 2025, published on Tuesday. 

Gap Analysis evaluates the European Commission’s annual Rule of Law report. It has been published annually since 2022, the year the EC’s annual report began including recommendations. The analysis features expert input from institutional partners from across the EU, civil society groups, and Liberties’ member organisations, including The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. The publication offers targeted insights to strengthen the EU’s rule of law framework.  

The European Commission has issued over 500 recommendations since 2022, an average of five per country per year. Yet, roughly one-third of EU Member States show little or no progress. The share of recommendations fully implemented across the EU fell from 11% in 2023 to 6% in both 2024 and 2025 and, in 2025, only nine recommendations were fully implemented. Overall, 61% of the recommendations assessed in 2025 have shown minimal or no progress since 2022. Malta is one of nine States to consistently leave 5-8 recommendations unimplemented. 

"When non-implementation becomes the norm, it undermines the credibility and preventive function of the entire rule of law cycle. Treating the European Commission’s rule of law recommendations as optional erodes prevention, credibility, and trust. In the end, we all lose trust in the systems meant to protect us,” said Tina Urso, COO at The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation.

Kersty McCourt, lead editor of the Gap Analysis and senior advocacy advisor at Liberties said: “Our Gap Analysis shows that the Commission’s Rule of Law Report is becoming less responsive to emerging challenges, raising concerns about its relevance and effectiveness as a monitoring tool. If the EU wants this mechanism to truly prevent democratic backsliding, it must strengthen the recommendations themselves, and ensure that non-compliance is directly linked to the EU’s enforcement tools including  the EU budget, as promised under the new Multi-Annual Financial Framework.”