Across EU member states, civil society is experiencing restrictions and challenges to its actions that affect its ability to fully act in the rule of law ecosystem. In particular, these challenges include: 

• an unfavorable political landscape characterized by, on one hand, (1) institutional disregard to the role of civil society as intermediary between the citizens and their governing authorities, and, on the other hand (2) the growing threat of far-right narratives and attacks in the public space, that creates fear and further marginalises racialised communities, migrants and LGBTQI+ people and those who defend them;
• complex bureaucratic legal environment and restrictive laws that negatively affect civic freedoms and weak implementation of civil dialogue infrastructures;
• insufficient availability of funding for the civic sector to engage in rule of law and fundamental rights issues and growing obstacles (including bureaucratic ones) to access them;
• prosecution of human rights defenders and criminalisation of human rights actions.