Only Latvia and Lithuania made meaningful progress on the European Commission's justice recommendations across 22 EU member states in 2025, the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) said in its 2026 Rule of Law Report. Seven states regressed. Thirteen registered no advancement whatsoever.

The regressing list comprises Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Slovakia, and Spain. Liberties, a civic platform, evaluates each EU country's follow-through on Commission recommendations designed to safeguard judicial independence, prosecutorial autonomy, court funding, and access to justice.

The report "exposes how governments across Europe receive clear recommendations to fix their courts yet consistently fail to act," Liberties said. The findings leave judicial independence, funding, and access to justice increasingly precarious, the organisation added.

Where is political pressure most visible?

Spain's 2025 conviction of its sitting Attorney General marked the first such conviction in the country's democratic history. Liberties framed the case as a symptom of entrenched politicisation that the 2024 renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary failed to reverse.

"The case was not an isolated scandal but a symptom of the enduring politicisation of Spain's judiciary, which was not reversed through the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary in 2024," the report said, citing civic platform X-Net.

Slovakia's Justice Minister disciplined a judge for ruling against government interests. Bulgaria's Supreme Court president faced smear campaigns while the judicial council operated on expired mandates. Hungary's Supreme Court president publicly criticised judges who opposed government reforms. France recorded a rise in death threats against magistrates.

Twelve Commission recommendations target judicial independence and transparency in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Spain, and Sweden. Three more address prosecutorial autonomy in Poland, Romania, and Spain.

What does the ruling backlog reveal?

By early 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had identified 650 leading judgments still awaiting implementation across EU member states, up from prior years. Average delays stretch beyond five years.

Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Romania hold the weakest enforcement records. Belgium and Greece carry ECtHR cases pending for up to two decades.

The Court of Justice of the European Union carries its own overhang: more than one-third of 382 rule-of-law judgments remain unimplemented, most delayed beyond two years. Hungary refused to reform its asylum procedures after a 2020 ruling and now owes a €200 million fine, plus daily penalties.

Non-implementation clusters in politically sensitive areas such as migration, minority rights, and institutional power disputes. Governments often pay compensation and postpone structural change.

Where is funding falling short?

Belgium spends 0.22% of GDP on justice against an EU average of 0.31%. The shortfall drives judge shortages, slow proceedings, and ECtHR violations over detention and asylum. France dedicates 2% of state spending to justice, leaving roughly half the judges and a quarter of the prosecutors of comparable states. Romania carries 15% judicial vacancies because hiring competitions remain blocked.

Estonia replaced first-time legal aid with chatbots. Malta tightened eligibility. The Netherlands cut social legal assistance. Italy continues to struggle with prison overcrowding. Germany has advanced little on judicial recruitment despite repeated warnings. Estonia's multi-year budget cuts forced the closure of court facilities. Ireland weighs limits on judicial review for major infrastructure projects.

Where else does Liberties flag weakness?

Liberties argues that rule-of-law erosion now reaches states without a long record of Commission censure. Denmark faces mounting court delays and widening surveillance powers. Sweden's fast-track criminal and migration legislation reduced procedural protections. Greece records declining trust linked to perceived political influence. Croatia increasingly tolerates WWII-era fascist symbols despite Constitutional Court rulings against the practice.

The report also flags omissions in the Commission's analysis: Slovakia's risk of pro-government majorities on judicial councils, Poland's fragile disciplinary regimes for judges, Germany's continued tolerance of ministerial instructions to prosecutors, and Bulgaria's failure to investigate judicial corruption.

What does Liberties want the Commission to do?

The organisation urges the Commission to set staffing and resourcing benchmarks, safeguard judicial self-governance, and publish systematic implementation data for both ECtHR and CJEU rulings. It recommends infringement proceedings against chronic violators and tying EU funding to measurable progress on judicial access and efficiency.

Practitioners advising clients on cross-border disputes, EU funding applications, or strategic litigation in the named jurisdictions can treat the assessment as a forward indicator of where Commission enforcement and infringement risk is likely to concentrate.