In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government has moved to restrict press freedom through defamation lawsuits against journalists and has attempted to gain control over the national broadcasting authority. The report documents 47 separate legislative or administrative actions in Italy since 2022 that "undermine democratic checks and balances."

Slovakia's inclusion may surprise some observers, given its recent history as a reformist success story. But under Prime Minister Robert Fico, who returned to power in 2023, the country has seen rapid backsliding. The government has moved to eliminate the special prosecutor's office for corruption cases, grant politicians immunity from certain investigations, and restrict NGO funding.

Bulgaria and Croatia, the report notes, exhibit different pathologies: not the deliberate destruction of democratic institutions, but their chronic weakness and capture by corrupt networks that prevent the rule of law from functioning effectively.

The European Commission now faces a decision that could define the future of the Union. For years, Brussels has avoided the most severe enforcement measures, fearing that aggressive action could further alienate member states or even trigger exits from the bloc. But the report's authors argue that inaction carries its own risks.

"If the EU cannot enforce its own fundamental values, it ceases to be a union of law and becomes merely a economic arrangement," Reich said. "The question is existential: Does the EU mean anything beyond the single market?"

The Commission has one powerful tool it has begun to use more aggressively: conditioning EU funding on rule-of-law compliance. Hungary has had billions of euros in funds frozen over governance concerns. Extending this approach to all five countries named in the report could affect more than €50 billion in EU transfers over the next budget cycle.

But financial penalties alone may be insufficient. Laurent Pech, professor of European law at Middlesex University London, argues that the EU needs to develop new enforcement mechanisms that don't require unanimity. "The rule-of-law violators have gamed the system by providing mutual vetoes," Pech said. "We need qualified majority voting on Article 7 cases, or we need to accept that enforcement is impossible."

The report has already triggered responses from the named governments. Hungary's Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó dismissed it as "propaganda" from "Brussels bureaucrats." Italy's government called the assessment "politically motivated" and defended its reforms as necessary to improve governance efficiency.

For now, the report serves primarily as documentation—evidence that may prove useful in future enforcement proceedings or in political debates about the Union's direction. But with European Parliament elections scheduled for 2024 and nationalist parties gaining ground across the continent, the window for meaningful action may be closing.