2021 had the potential to be a better year for democracy, at least better than 2020. If 2020 was marked by a pandemic and it was somehow predictable that civic space and civil liberties would be affected by the need (justified or not) for quick reaction, we had other expectations from 2021. Even if Romania was still on alert, 2021 would have been a good time for rehabilitation and the application of lessons learned on civil rights and civic space.

Unfortunately, this was not the case at all. At best, we can talk about stagnation and the perpetuation of the same problems: decent legislation (sometimes bad, sometimes good), poorly applied or ignored, punctual abuses and a permanent state of alertness and lack of predictability.

The Coalition of “NGOs of the Citizen” has continued to monitor the civic space this year and to draw attention to the abuses that took place in 2021. In the second edition of our report, „The State of Democracy in 2021”, we included everything we found worrying in the year that pasted: continued attempts to amend legislation to the detriment of citizens and the civic space, lack of transparency and consultation, intimidation and aggression of journalists, controversial appointments to public office, etc.

The purpose of this Report is to bring to light the hardships that our democracy goes through every year and to remind everyone that vigilance plays a central role in protecting the European democratic values ​​to which Romania aspires.

Download the Report on “The State of Democracy in 2021” here