Reviewing progress on the European Democracy Action Plan

On 3 December 2020 the European Commission published the European Democracy Action Plan (EDAP), a strategy composed of several legislative and non-legislative initiatives aiming at supporting citizens and democracies across the EU by promoting free and fair elections; strengthening media freedom; and countering disinformation.

Three years later, many actions have been completed or started, even though delays on different initiatives have significantly slowed down the overall implementation of the strategy.  Of the 30 measures envisaged by the European Commission, 20 have been completed, 7 are still ongoing, and 3 have not yet been started.

At the same time, the Commission will publish a review of the status of the actions of the EDAP as part of the publication of the Defence of Democracy package (DoD) in December 2023. The package will also include a legislative proposal establishing harmonised requirements in the internal market on transparency of interest representation activities carried out on behalf of third countries; a recommendation on an inclusive and resilient electoral processes in the Union and enhancing the European nature and efficient conduct of the 2024 elections to the European Parliament; and a recommendation on promoting the engagement and effective participation of citizens and civil society organisations in public policy-making processes.EPD has followed and reviewed the EDAP files very closely over the last few years. Against the background of the three-year adoption of the action plan, this paper provides an overall assessment and insights into the state of implementation of the EDAP by analysing the three pillars, assessing progress on each commitment and then drawing conclusions based on this analysis.