ECF responds to President Ursula vonder Leyen's State of the Union speech. Plus, updates from the European Civic Academy and Civic Pride Awards...

On 5 July 2023, the European Commission published its fourth annual report reviewing the Rule of Law infrastructure and developments in 27 Member States in 2022...

With the elections looming, the institutions are eager to finalise work on the remaining major legislative files of this term. However, the Defence of Democracy package, originally expected in June, has been delayed, following widespread alarm at its proposed foreign interference directive. The Commission has agreed to civil society's demand for a full impact assessment...

The European Commission is set to publish its proposed Defence of Democracy package. In our response to the consultation, we made it clear that the package’s focus on ‘foreign interference’ risks damaging democracy, not defending it. This week, 230 civil society organisations wrote to the European Commission President, calling for the proposed directive on foreign-funded organisations to be scrapped...

The latest edition of our annual civic space report, “Fighting for democratic empowerment and resilience”, was released earlier this month. The report demonstrates that, while civil society remains the bedrock of democracy, civic freedoms are under pressure across Europe...

The EU is right, we must defend democracy. But 'foreign interference' is not the biggest threat. ECF Co-presidents Jean-Marc The EU is right, we must defend democracy. But 'foreign interference' is not the biggest threat. ECF Co-presidents Jean-Marc Roirant and Raffaella Bolini write for Euronews...

Happy new year from ECF! 2023 is already shaping up to be a busy year as we take forward our campaign for a European Civil Society Strategy: to reverse the trend of shrinking civic space and to protect civil society’s essential role in defending and expanding democracy...