Report: Bulgaria among the “Dismantlers” of the Rule of Law in the EU

Concerted dismantling and cumulative decline sum up the state of the rule of law across large parts of the EU and increasingly within the European Institutions themselves, according to a report by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe.

Countries are grouped into several categories, with Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia placed in a group described as “dismantlers”. In these countries, legislation is being weakened, with the most severe cases observed in Hungary.

A significant proportion of EU recommendations remain unimplemented by Member States, while there is a regression in mechanisms for mutual oversight and enforcement. A crisis in the rule of law has emerged as a leading trend across the European Union in 2025, with only negligible positive developments, the report concludes.

This is the seventh edition of the report. It was compiled with the participation of 40 human rights organisations from 22 EU countries. On the Bulgarian side, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee contributed as co-author of the section dedicated to Bulgaria.