The European Commissioner responsible for justice, Michael McGrath, has warned of “creeping authoritarianism” in Europe and the undermining of judicial independence.
He said the concern was not sudden coups or dramatic power grabs, but rather a slow process that can lead to a concentration of power in the hands of a few.
“This erosion often proceeds quietly through a systematic dismantling of safeguards designed to protect our rights and freedoms, such as changes to legal and constitutional frameworks, manipulation of electoral processes and the weakening, or indeed silencing, of an independent media,” he said.
“Closely aligned to such development is the undermining of judicial independence.”
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Mr McGrath, commissioner for democracy, justice, the rule of law and consumer protection, was speaking at a seminar on emerging threats to democracy at the Law Society of Ireland in Dublin on Thursday.
He said that in the absence of independent judges, laws were subject to “the whims of those in power”.
Citizens in Europe, he said, felt disconnected from the democratic processes that had shaped their lives.
“This disconnection can lead to apathy, and worse, create space for harmful ideologies to take hold,” he said.
The European Union had an important role in making its politics simpler and more accessible and that included protecting societies against disinformation, he said. A European “democracy shield”, which he is developing, would help in protecting institutions and freedoms of expression while tackling disinformation.
“Ultimately, we must ensure that voters have access to facts, not fiction when making the decisions that shape our future.”
A network of fact-checkers would be part of this approach and would help “pre-bunk and debunk” manipulated information, he said, while upholding the fairness and integrity of elections.
“Users of online platforms should be clearly informed when algorithms are being used to promote political content, especially when these algorithms are driven by personal data or target individuals based on their characteristics,” he told delegates at the conference.
“They also have a right to know whether political content is sponsored or paid for and by whom.
“The effective enforcement, therefore, of the Digital Services Act and the regulation on political advertising, will be essential to achieving this transparency.”
The European Commission has launched several infringement proceedings in recent years, and Mr McGrath cited the case to protect Polish judges from threats to their independence.
“The EU stands as a beacon for democracy and the rule of law,” he said.
“People look to us to set the standard and to promote and defend democratic values wherever they are under threat and so in a world facing the rise of authoritarian regimes and political instability the leadership of the European Union has never mattered more.”
