Civil Liberties Union for Europe published the Rule of Law Report 2025: the announcement, the report. The report was compiled by 43 rights groups from 21 EU countries and found that the rule of law issues and democratic decline documented in the past years persisted.

The part of the report on the Netherlands often reflects the political desires of the rapporteurs, e.g. regarding the definition of corruption.

Blind eye of the NL-rapporteurs
Interestingly, the rapporteurs turn a blind eye to the large-scale discriminatory effects of anti-FEC regulations [*] and the increasing pointless bureaucracy caused by the rules.
These rapporteurs in some paragraphs undermine rule of law principles, e.g. by proposing that companies must prove their innocence if there are suspicions of crime (page 754 first column).
This reversal of the burden of proof is part of a general regulatory trend, for example in the field of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing, which is already causing great harm to citizens. Also interesting are examples of ‘good’ regulation from countries with poor rule of law, such as the US, UK and France.

[*] Anti-money laundering (AML), countering financing of terrorism (CFT) and sanctions legislation (it includes anti-corruption). Examples: 1, 2.