European Union countries are increasingly ignoring demands from Brussels to tackle corruption, improve media freedom, raise standards of justice and deal with other threats to democratic society, according to an official report published Tuesday. 

The European Commission’s annual “Rule of Law Report” raised serious concerns about the lack of progress in a number of countries, and found that Hungary in particular had failed to make any headway on all but one of the key recommendations it was given a year ago. 

The report said EU countries fully implemented or made “significant progress” on only 18 percent of the Commission’s recommendations, compared with a success rate of almost 20 percent last year and more than 25 percent in 2023. Overall, there was “no progress” or “limited progress” on 43 percent of all recommendations made by the Commission over the past year.  

European Democracy Commissioner Michael McGrath said officials in Brussels are now drawing up plans to strengthen EU countries’ compliance by making it mandatory to uphold rule-of-law standards as a condition of receiving funding from the bloc’s €1.2 trillion budget. The Commission is due to set out its draft budget blueprint ― covering the seven years from 2028 ― on July 16. 

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, McGrath said “the most concerning” parts of the 800-page report were where countries had failed to make any progress at all against the Commission’s recommendations in the past 12 months.

“When you look at the recommendations and the evaluation of last year, where you see a lot of ‘no progress’ being reported, that’s an obvious concern,” McGrath said. “Of course it will be criticized in some quarters, particularly by those who may feel that they’re being criticized in the reports but we have sought to be evidence based and factual in everything we have brought forward.”

He warned there had been a “narrowing” of the space for civil society organizations to function, including professional groups representing judges, prosecutors and journalists. 

Media companies are also facing growing pressures in some areas, not just because of commercial difficulties, but also the approach to the media in some countries is problematic and we see again the space for some media organizations in some parts of the European Union … under some pressure.”