Whereas Europe rallies to defend Ukraine from tanks and missiles, a quieter assault is unfolding inside its borders — one which strikes on the coronary heart of its democratic resilience.
From Warsaw to Tbilisi to Bishkek, civil society is below siege. Activists are being smeared as overseas brokers.
NGOs are being defunded, closed down, and criminalised. Volunteer teams are labelled as safety threats. This isn’t Chilly Warfare theatre — it’s Europe and its neighbourhood in 2025.
In Georgia, the latest adoption of a “overseas brokers” legislation ignited mass protests and worldwide condemnation.
However Georgia is not any outlier. Belarus has forcibly liquidated over 1,500 NGOs since Lukashenka’s 2020 crackdown.
In Tajikistan, a whole lot of CSO teams had been compelled to close down following unrest in 2022.
Kyrgyzstan’s 2024 foreign-agent-style legislation requires any foreign-funded group partaking in vaguely outlined “political exercise” to register below a stigmatising oversight scheme, below risk of closure.
This legislation units a harmful precedent for all of Central Asia, with related laws into account in different international locations of the area.
Worryingly, this authoritarian toolkit is migrating westward.
Hungary calls for that civic teams disclose overseas donors, whereas prime minister Viktor Orbán decries NGOs as a “shadow military”. Slovakia and Serbia are considering their very own variations of Russia’s overseas agent legal guidelines. The sample is obvious: discredit, dismantle, and dominate.
Right here’s why this issues.
The European continent is arguably the world’s most essential bastion of democracy. If it falters, the thought of a liberal, rules-based world order dangers faltering with it. That makes prioritising democracy, the rule of legislation, and elementary freedoms in Europe and its broader neighbourhood not solely morally vital however strategically important. And none of that’s doable with out a robust, impartial, and resilient civil society.
Civic actors are greater than idealists. They’re the early warning methods, the accountability mechanisms, the human bridge between the ruled and the federal government. They expose corruption, amplify marginalised voices, and foster public belief that populists and autocrats erode. After they’re silenced, it’s not simply NGOs that vanish — it’s democratic resistance itself.
But the EU’s response stays tepid.
Western donors cite ‘geopolitical realities’ and ‘donor fatigue’ as they reduce assist.
Nationwide governments more and more invoke ‘sovereignty’ and ‘conventional values’ to justify silencing dissent.
Even Brussels, regardless of its rhetoric, usually reacts too late (or by no means), underlining a flagrant lack of consistency between its declared dedication to assist civil society and its actions in follow.
The lesson of the 1975 Helsinki Ultimate Act nonetheless holds 50 years after its adoption: lasting peace and safety in Europe depend upon open societies and human dignity.
If Europe desires to be greater than a continent of empty declarations, it should deal with civic area as important infrastructure – and never as an afterthought.
Meaning authorized protections for activists, sustained funding for grassroots teams, and 0 tolerance for many who weaponise ‘sovereignty’ to erode rights.
This yr, we flip 25 and are on the lookout for 2,500 new supporting members to take their stake in EU democracy. A functioning EU depends on a well-informed public – you.
