Trust in government and its institutions is crucial for a healthy democracy, as citizens must be able to rely on their elected officials and public leaders to act in their best interests while in power. However, patterns of corruption throughout many European nations have only become more entrenched in recent months, as highlighted in Liberties’ 2025 Rule of Law Report. As the EU faces ongoing political challenges, corruption continues to threaten the rule of law, undermining democracy, trust in public institutions, and even economic progress.

High-Level Corruption: An Ongoing Challenge

A straightforward path to curb widespread corruption is for governments to enforce existing laws. However, multiple Member States have displayed weak enforcement measures, further emboldening wrongdoers.

In Czechia, long judicial procedures and unresolved cases of high-level corruption, including those involving power abuse and embezzlement, fail to disincentivise this behaviour. This issue can largely be attributed to the lack of independence and limited resources of the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS). Slovakia even went as far as dissolving special anti-corruption bodies like the Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) and the National Criminal Agency (NAKA), which has diminished the tools available to address top-level corruption.

Barriers to prosecution can also be political. In Italy, corruption cases are often obstructed by political influence through defamation lawsuits and other legal mechanisms to intimidate journalists and whistleblowers. Even in countries where lawmakers have increased fines for crimes like foreign bribery, like Greece, these measures remain ineffective due to a lack of convictions. When such cases don’t result in conviction, the law fails to adequately deter future offenders.

Patchy Protection of Journalists and Whistleblowers

The role and responsibility of whistleblowers and journalists are central to any discussion of corruption, since they often provide the initial push necessary to get the ball rolling in the justice system.

Whistleblowers are individuals who raise concerns about waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, or dangers to public health and safety. They often work within the very organisations on which they are reporting. Many of the most headline-dominating corruption cases in recent years only gained the spotlight because of a single individual’s courage to raise concerns. One of the most well-known whistleblowers is Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) employee. Snowden blew the whistle in 2013 about widespread government surveillance programs on both domestic and foreign targets, giving journalists and citizens alike a much-needed insight into the United States’ surveillance apparatus.

Troublingly, multiple European states have failed to strengthen- or even eroded- whistleblower and journalist protections from the law. In France, even though new laws introduced in 2022 clarified the framework for whistleblowers, the failure of many entities to implement reporting procedures has further reinforced concerns, particularly in organisations tasked with defence and national security. Even more concerning was the introduction of defamation sanctions in Italy, which restrict external reporting and undermine previously held protections for whistleblowers.

Governments also attempt to suppress reports of corruption through blatant political and legal retribution. Whistleblowers in Slovakia and Hungary lack adequate legal protection and those who report corruption are often subject to lawsuits, criminal complaint filings, and other forms of retaliation. When people are too afraid to speak up, this prevents the public from learning about corruption.

Bolstering Anti-Corruption: Key Recommendations

While a growing tolerance toward corruption in several Member States has crept in, experts at Liberties and its partners have endorsed specific and realistic recommendations for changing course. These include guidance for the EU as a whole, as well as individual national governments. At the Member State level, government organisations should improve whistleblower protections to ensure anonymity and legal safeguards for those reporting corruption. This could be bolstered by increased funding and independence for investigative bodies so that whistleblowers know they have a reliable outlet for reporting. Similarly, if Member States’ compliance with EU anti-corruption standards was enforced, this would strengthen international cooperation in prosecuting corruption.

EU level change has the potential for a broader and swifter impact. The strategy of combatting corruption EU-wide would fill many gaps across the Member States in one fell swoop, as opposed to working individually with national governments in a more gradual approach. At the Member State level, it is essential to transpose the EU Anti-Corruption Directive, which would guide the implementation of new legislation throughout Europe. The EU also needs to step up its oversight of Member States, since a lack of effective monitoring of cases and sanctions for non-compliance has been blamed for undermining previous anti-corruption efforts.

To achieve lasting progress in the fight against corruption, national governments and the EU alike must take meaningful steps to prioritise stronger enforcement, transparency, and independence for anti-corruption institutions. By closing legal gaps, protecting whistleblowers, and holding individuals accountable for high-level corruption, European governments can foster a more transparent and democratic political environment.

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Reads & Resources

• Download the full Liberties Rule of Law Report 2025
• Op-ed: The EU Should Reinforce Democracy's Guardrails Before it's Too Late
• Previous annual rule of law reports: 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020