Freedom House: Kosovo makes steady progress

Titled “Transfer countries 2020”, the report praises the state of democratic governance in 29 countries in Europe and Eurasia.

In the table of 1 to 7 points, where 1 represents the lowest level of democratic progress and 7 with the top, Kosovo has 3.18 points, compared to 3.11 last year, Rel writes.

Easy progress has also marked Northern Macedonia, providing 3.75 points, compared to 3.68 last year.

Albania, Montenegro and Serbia have scored deterioration, while Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia have remained in the same position.

“against some successful political agreements and technical progress towards membership in the European Union, transition countries have noted the deterioration of democracy, especially Serbia and Montenegro”, the report said.

All Balkan countries, except for Croatia, are part of the “transitional or hybrid regimes” group. These, according to Freedom House, are election democracies, where democratic institutions are fragile and where real challenges exist for the protection of political rights and civil liberties.

Serbia and Montenegro have emerged this year for the first time since 2003 from the category of democracies.

“The capture of the state, abuse of power and tactics of the powerful -- practiced by Aleksandar Vuciq in Serbia and Milo Djukanovic in Montenegro -- have caused these countries to cross borders. They are no longer classified as democracy”, the report says.

“Since taking power in 2012, the Serbian Progressive Party has consistently limited the opposition's role in governance”, Freedom House notes.

Democracy at its lowest point

The organisation points out that the number of democracies is at the lowest point in the report's 25-year history: out of the estimated 29 countries, ten are democracy, ten are hybrid regimes and nine are authoritarian regimes.

As for Central European countries, Hungary has also fallen into the group of transitional or hybrid regimes because, reportedly, the deterioration of data from elections, local governments and corruption.

Poland has also changed the category, becoming the second member of the European Union to lose the “consolidated democracy”, after Hungary.

In Poland, Freedom House points to the deteriorating situation in the judiciary's independence as a reason.

Referring to countries that have emerged from the category of democracies, Freedom House President Michael Abramowitz said that “many leaders in the region no longer claim to take care of democracy or law”.

“Coronavirus's crisis has created a change, after which things can get worse, or democracies can be resurrected”, Abramowitz said.

“Hopefully this experience will illustrate the importance of transparent and responsible governance and will spur new calls for changes”, he added.