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EU's rule of law reports 'even less comprehensive' this year, risks 'backsliding', campaigners warn
Speaking of the marking process, the civil rights group Liberties has also just published its assessment of the EU commission’s separate annual rule of law report, which looks at the union’s member states and their work in this area.
In a scathing summary, the assessment found that the EU’s analysis “in key areas was even less comprehensive, with key issues neglected and no consequences for non-compliance with recommendations,” with some parts of the report literally “repeated verbatim, regardless of the level of progress, the seriousness of the violation, or the implications of continued inaction” from previous years.
It said that “Hungary stands out as an outlier, holding the highest number of recommendations with persistent ‘no progress’ status, underscoring deep-rooted governance issues and resistance to EU-level oversight.”
But “other countries showing notable stagnation include Italy, Bulgaria, Ireland, and Germany, each with five or six recommendations that remain unaddressed since 2022.”
In total, “the share of recommendations fully implemented fell from 11% in 2023 to 6% in both 2024 and 2025,” it said.
“This indicates that the Annual Rule of Law Report risks becoming a symbolic monitoring exercise rather than a real tool to protect the rule of law and fundamental rights. The main recommendation to tackle persistent non-compliance is to strengthen enforcement mechanisms, including infringement proceedings and budget conditionality, ensuring that they are applied in a regular and timely manner,” Liberties said.
The group warned that “without rapid action, we fear the backsliding will escalate and changes will become very difficult to reverse.”
The report is here.
Morning opening: The marking process
Jakub Krupa
The European Union is set to reveal its ratings for candidate countries later today, assessing the progress they are making on the path to become the union’s members in the future.
We will hear from the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, and the enlargement commissioner, Marta Kos, early afternoon.
Lots of potential lines to look out for there, as we will get the commission’s assessment of the worsening situation in Georgia, the attempts to reform Ukraine despite the on-going Russian aggression, and their look at the western Balkan countries, including Serbia, which sees continued protests against Aleksandar Vučić’s rule.
Separately, I will keep an eye on the EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius’s meeting with Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte in Brussels on rearming Europe.
There is also more news from the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Germany, and others.
Lots for us to go through.
It’s Tuesday, 4 November 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
English (US)