Welcome to the second Civic Space Watch Alerts Roundup, bringing you some of the latest developments in European civic space emerging from the Early Warning and Alert System (EWAS), developed as part of the MACS (Monitoring Action for Civic Space) project.
As civic space across Europe continues to face pressure, this roundup’s alerts reflect a troubling escalation of measures used to restrict civic space, from bans on assemblies and restrictive legislation to attacks on minority rights and civil society groups.
These alerts follow the findings of our recently published Civic Space Report 2025, which mapped a growing pattern of repression targeting CSOs, rights defenders and activists across the region, such as shrinking civic freedoms, the rise of far-right narratives, a hostile legal and funding environment and reduced civic participation.
We call on institutional stakeholders to take urgent action to counter these threats and uphold democracy, the rule of law, and the freedom of civil society to organise, speak out, and hold power to account.