Germany, France and Italy are all suffering from erosions to civic freedom, according to a report by the global civil society alliance, CIVICUS, published on Tuesday (9 December).
The three EU member states were downgraded from “narrowed” to “obstructed”, the third from bottom out of five possible categories.
The trio, home to almost half of the EU’s population, are now in the same category as Hungary, Brazil and South Africa.
CIVICUS, a network of civil society organisations based in Johannesburg, uses five categories to assess civic space, ranging from "open" at the best end to "closed" at the worst, with "obstructed" in the middle.
“In Europe, France, Germany and Italy move from narrowed to obstructed ratings, indicating a worsening environment for civil society in the European Union”, the report says.
Germany was already downgraded previously in 2023 from the best category to the second best.
The report's analysis points to widespread suppression of pro-Palestinian activism, as demonstrators encountered violent police responses, while civil society groups faced office raids and loss of funding.
Tara Petrović, researcher for CIVICUS said in that Germany was in the forefront of the crackdown against pro-Palestinian protesters across Europe.
In France, the backsliding is connected with growing restricting on peaceful protest and free expression.
In addition, the report pointed to the exploitation of legal measures to shut down NGOs and harass activists in recent years, as well as the repeated use of tear gas, explosive grenades, and mass arrests against protesters.
As in Germany, pro-Palestinian protesters faced repression, as did those demonstrating for climate justice, migrant rights and the mobilisation against austerity measures.
The situation in Italy for civil society has worsened due to the implementation of laws in June this year.
That package has created dozens of new crimes, increased punishments for peaceful protest, and broadened law enforcement authority and monitoring capabilities, according to the report. Blocking traffic now can lead to a sentence of up to two years in prison.
The civil society alliance links the crackdown in Italy to prime minister Giorgia Meloni's far-right government and its growing hostility towards critics.
The downgrades in these major European democracies reflect a broader global pattern of declining civic freedoms.
Only 39 out of 198 countries now maintain open civic space where fundamental freedoms are widely protected.
By contrast, 83 states earned ratings of "repressed" or "closed" civic space, showing systematic suppression of civil society rights.
The share of humanity residing in countries with open or narrowed civic space has shrunk to just 7.2 percent, a decline of 7.5 percentage points from 2024.
This drop signals a continued global erosion of civic freedoms.
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Hannah Kriwak is a junior reporter from Austria at EUobserver, covering European politics.
Hannah Kriwak is a junior reporter from Austria at EUobserver, covering European politics.