Democracy has become the political system of reference in Europe: since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, European countries have gradually moved towards a democratic system. Today, all countries on the continent are democratic. Are they really, though? Let’s take stock.
What is democracy?
If we start with a basic definition, democracy is a system of government in which the people of a country can vote to elect their representatives. That’s how democracy is defined in the Oxford dictionary, for example. In this regard, yes, all European countries are democratic. But are elections accurate when political pluralism, freedom of the press, and freedom of expression are not guaranteed? In other words: Is it possible to make a choice when this choice is neither free nor informed?
Basically, to be democratic, a state must guarantee political pluralism, freedom of the press and freedom of expression, and therefore guarantee civil and political rights. This shows the importance of the link between democracy and the rule of law. In its simplest form, the rule of law means that “no one is above the law”. For the rule of law to be effective, there must be equality under the law, transparency of law, an independent judiciary. In fact, the rule of law guarantees fundamental rights. That’s why in 2012, the United Nations declared “human rights, the rule of law and democracy are interdependent, mutually reinforcing”. So, democracy can be defined as a political regime where the people can vote to elect their representatives and where political et and civils rights are guaranteed.
Populism: a political movement that threatens democracy
The whole problem is that in recent times, these rights have been seriously threatened in several European “democracies”. This is due in particular to the rise of populism. Populism is an ideological and political trend that can be hard to define, as there are many complex and vague definitions. However, one definition is that the parties that claim to be populists, or are accused of being populists, advocate protectionism, nationalism, direct democracy and claim to “defend the people against the elites”. What most European populist movements also have in common is their rejection of traditional political models.
The underlying causes of the rise of populism are quite complex and diverse depending on the country. However, there are common points that are often found: an uncertain economic and social situation, the discontent of the people with political powers perceived as elites detached from the daily problems of the people, the feeling of not being well represented enough and the demand for more active citizen participation in political life. The populists thus “surf” on this wave of popular discontent with speeches that take up these criticisms and harass the crowd. They see representative democracy as malfunctioning and failing to deliver on its promises. They advocate a more direct form of democracy, with the supposed aim of “giving power back to the people”. This argument is used in particular to legitimise unconstitutional reforms. The consequences are to weaken democracy through reforms that limit the exercise of democracy, such as restricting press freedom or pluralism.
Hungary’s claim of an “illiberal democracy”
In Hungary, Viktor Orban, the Prime minister, an important figure in the populist movement, has for years pursued a policy aimed at limiting the exercise of democracy in his country: attacks on the freedom and plurality of the press, reform of the Institutional Court and weakening of the independence of the judiciary. In fact, public channels are under the orders of the executive, while there is a strong concentration in media shareholding: the 18 headlines in the regional press fell in the span of a year into the hands of Viktor Orban’s relatives. The reform of the 2011 Constitution has taken away a large part of its prerogatives from the Constitutional Court: it can no longer give an opinion on the content of a revision of the Fundamental Law, which is essential to ensure respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. In addition, the new procedure for appointing judges of the Constitutional Court has strengthened the government’s influence on its composition and called into question the irremovability of judges. (The irremovability of judges means that they cannot receive a new assignment without their consent, even in the event of advancement. This is one of the keys to the independence of justice.) As early as September 2022, the European Parliament declared that Hungary could not be considered a full democracy.
This idea is contested by Viktor Orban, who, on the contrary, believes in implementing a different model of democracy. In fact, he refers to the concept of illiberal democracy, which he sees as a way of dissociating political liberalism, which he rejects, from democracy. A dissociation that seems impossible. Thus, Luuk van Middelaar, philosopher and professor of European law at Leiden University, described Hungary in 2018 as an “electoral dictatorship”. In addition to this, Amnesty International compiled a report of the disastrous human rights situation in Hungary in 2022: discrimination against LGBTQ+ and Roma; major setbacks for women’s sexual and reproductive rights, and many more.
According to the economist’s democracy index in 2024, Hungary scores only 6.72 out of 10, and falls into the “flawed democracies” category. But Hungary is not the only “flawed democracy”. In fact, of the 27 countries of the European Union, 14 are flawed democracies. Portugal, Belgium, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Serbia, Slovakia and Hungary are all considered flawed democracies according to the Index.
Poland : another example of these flawed democracies
In Poland, similarly as in Hungary, Jaroslaw Kaczyński’s nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS), in power from 2015 to December 2023, has implemented policies that have shifted the formerly liberal democracy to a hybrid system. More precisely, the party attacked the independence of the judiciary, with, for example, the two controversial bills passed by Parliament on 15 July 2017, one of which was designed to give the Minister of Justice the power to appoint and dismiss court presidents, and the other to end the term of office of members of the National Judicial Council and give Parliament (dominated by the PiS) the power to appoint its replacements. There have also been attacks on independent media, with, for example, the law passed on 31 December 2015 by the Polish Parliament giving the government the power to appoint and dismiss the heads of public television and radio. But also discrimination against minorities, for example LGBTQ+ people, and limitation of women’s rights.
There is now hope that democracy will improve with the new government formed by the liberal coalition elected in October 2023 and sworn in in December 2023, which has expressed its determination to put the country back on the rails of democracy. To do this, it must face up to the legacy of eight years of populism.
What’s the conclusion?
In conclusion, we can remember that not all European democracies are legitimate. Some are only superficially democratic because, yes, the right to vote still exists, but there are reforms that limit civil and political rights and the independence of justice. Furthermore, populism is a major cause of these defective democracies since this movement calls into question the rule of law and political liberalism, as seen in Poland or Hungary.
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