• Freedom House is an independent watchdog organisation dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world;

• The report “Nations in Transit” 2018 edition was published in February 2018. It covers the year 2017;

• The author of the Report argues that in 2017 Poland recorded the largest category declines and the second-largest Democracy Score decline in the history of the Report: from 2.57 to 2.89 points on a 1-7 scale, 1 being the perfect score;

• The key factors analysed and score changes were as follows:

National Democratic Governance rating declined from 3.25 to 4.00 due to the government’s irregular practices of passing legislation and overwriting judicial decisions, the informal power wielded by Jarosław Kaczyński, and the antidemocratic intent behind multiple reforms passed during the year.

Civil Society rating declined from 1.75 to 2.0 due to a vicious smear campaign against nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), occasional harassment of civic activists, and the centralization of funding under a new government agency.

Local Democratic Governance rating declined from 1.75 to 2.00 due to various moves by the government that reduce the power of local administrators.

Judicial Framework and Independence rating declined from 3.25 to 4.25 due to judicial reforms that seriously undermine the independence of judges and abolish separation of powers.

Full report can be found here: PDF.

Please read the executive summary on Freedom House’s website.