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Freedom House: Chronic ethics violations a risk for Romania amid 'stable instability in south-east EU'
In Romania, Slovakia and especially Bulgaria kept in 2022 ‘ a trend to stable instability’ shows Freedom House in their annual report with regard to the state of democracy in the countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, published on Wednesday.
In the report, the figures regarding the state of democracy dropped in 11 of the 29 analysed states, and in seven it was improved.
‘Under the title’ Stable instability in EU south-east’ the report writes that the Russian invasion in Ukraine had a minor impact in taking many of the EU democracies from their patters of partisan troubles, and in some cases ‘ added fuel to the fire of political dysfunctions’.
When referring to Romania, the report says that – by comparison to Bulgaria and Slovakia – this country proved more capable of stable governing in 2022, a welcome evolution due to the long history of governing through fragile minority coalition.
The total score received by Romania in the report Freedom House in the chapter ‘Nations in transition’ is 56, which means a statute of ‘semi-consolidated democracy’ and the percentage of democracy was evaluated to 55.95.
In spite of the large support basis of the present government, the cabinet of the prime-minister Nicolae Ciuca is not, however, lacking in trouble. Many scandals of plagiarism and biased statements about the war in Ukraine have led to the resignation of several ministers, Freedom House notes.
However, in the absence of some systemic and sustainable remedies, there is the risk that the influence of pro-Russian factions in Bulgaria, a violent culture of intolerance in Slovakia and cronical breaches of ethics in Romania will weaken the trust of the public in the democracy, writes the report Freedom House.