Five of 18 eastern European countries have registered major violations of international democratic freedoms since March 2020, according to research conducted by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, compared with none of 12 western European countries. The research also shows that eastern European countries have been more likely to turn to abusive enforcement, disinformation and discriminatory measures, with the most common violation being restrictions on the media. The worst violations were observed in Serbia, which recorded a violations score three times higher than the European average. The country recorded ethnic profiling during the pandemic, according to the V-Dem Institute, with abusive police practices disproportionately affecting minority ethnic communities. While democratic regimes remained rather stable in most of western Europe, four eastern European countries shifted down from liberal to electoral democracies, according to the V-Dem Institute.

Source: The Guardian December 29, 2021 22:48 UTC