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Eastern Europe
April 13, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
Ukraine's democracy score falls in annual Freedom House ranking as illiberalism rises across Europe
bne IntelliNews
Ukraine’s overall democracy score fell for the first time since the EuroMaidan revolution in the an- nual Freedom House ranking, due to overt attacks on civil society and NGOs by the government and its failure to launch a real anti-corruption drive despite western donors' insistence.
“With the Russian-led conflict in the east grinding on, Ukraine’s politicians are taking advantage
of patriotic sentiment to attack NGOs and journalists, accusing them of undermining the war effort. Attacks on civil society and political opponents have sapped the momentum from the institutional reform process in Ukraine,” said Nate Schenkkan, project director that produced the “Nations in Transit 2018. Confronting Illiberalism” report.
Ukraine is not alone in backtracking. The report highlighted the worrying rise of illiberalism across Europe. Freedom House registered the broadest score declines in the project’s 23-year history: 19 of the 29 countries assessed had declines in their overall Democracy Scores and for the second year in a row, there are more Consolidated Authoritarian Regimes
than Consolidated Democracies.
Confronting illiberalism
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko continues to try consolidate power in the lead-up to the presiden- tial and parliamentary elections in the face of his collapsing popularity in the polls, the US-based non- governmental human rights watchdog said in its report.
“Although decentralisation reforms are continu- ing, other key priorities, including anticorruption efforts, have stalled. The window of opportunity has not closed in Ukraine, but it has shrunk. By accusing NGOs and journalists of antinational sentiment, politicians are attempting to exclude legitimate voices from public debate simply be- cause they criticize the government,” Schenkkan added in a press release accompanying the re- port’s publication.
Freedom House's rating of Ukraine is 4.64 points out of the possible 7 (1=Most Democratic, 7=Least Democratic), thus, the country remained in the 'Partially Free' category.
"National governance remained static in 2017
as Ukraine continued to struggle with the major national reforms commenced in 2014. The coun- try has made significant progress on many fronts, including the EU-Ukraine association agreement
Illiberalism is on the rise across Europe and including in EU members