Introduction

The rule of law is one of the fundamental values upon which the European Union (EU) is founded and represents a constitutional priority shared by all Member States (Article 2 of the Treaty on EU). The rule of law is essential for the proper functioning of democratic societies and the protection of human rights. Furthermore, the rule of law plays a pivotal role in shaping the potential for sustainable regional growth and development.

Adherence to this principle requires effective democratic institutions that ensure public accountability and the separation of powers. It also mandates access to independent and impartial courts that protect people's fundamental rights and guarantee equality before the law. Upholding the rule of law further requires implementing targeted, evidence-informed strategies at both national and subnational levels, which are tailored to meet the diverse needs of people across different regions.

In this context, World Justice Project EUROVOICES provides new data that captures the perceptions and experiences of people living in 110 subnational regions across the 27 EU Member States in the areas of justice, democratic governance, and the rule of law. The report series draws upon surveys responses from more than 8,000 local and independent legal experts, as well as regionally representative household surveys administered to more than 64,000 respondents across the EU. With this data, the World Justice Project (WJP) seeks to contribute to evidence-based decision-making at all government levels by helping decision-makers identify strengths, weaknesses, and policy priorities in their regions.

This data is organized into three thematic reports:

1. Democracy and Fundamental Rights
2. Justice and Safety
3. Transparency and Corruption

Each report focuses on a selection of pillars of the rule of law, comprised of indicators that cover specific dimensions of each concept. Findings for each indicator are categorized into Expert Scorecards, calculated using expert survey responses, and/or People’s Voices, highlighting complementary question-level data from WJP’s household surveys. These two categories are presented side-by-side, offering a comprehensive view of how EU residents perceive and experience justice, governance, and the rule of law in their respective regions.

The Expert Scorecard captures legal experts’ assessments of composite indicators with scores ranging from 0 to 1, where 1 is the highest possible score and 0 is the lowest possible score. Each score is calculated by aggregating a set of questions that are relevant to various dimensions of the concept being measured. This expert data allows for a deeper examination of the technical aspects that determine how people interact with a complex network of institutions and the justice system. In contrast, findings from the People’s Voices database, presented at the question level using percentages (0 to 100%), reflect the beliefs and experiences of the general population.

The project’s conceptual framework builds upon the tested and proven methodology of the WJP Rule of Law Index®—a rigorous quantitative tool that evaluates and ranks 142 countries across key dimensions of the rule of law—with adaptations to reflect the institutional architecture in the EU. It should be noted that the results of both tools are not comparable, because this project presents data from its household surveys separately from its Expert Scorecards, whereas the Index integrates the General Population Poll into each country’s aggregate scores. Additionally, adjustments have been made to the conceptual framework and to the data analysis protocol, including changes in the methods used to calculate scores. For more information on the methodology of World Justice Project EUROVOICES, refer to the methodology section at the end of this report.

Given the diversity of institutional design across EU Member States, the questions in this project’s surveys mainly focus on the outcomes experienced by individuals concerning different issues related to justice, governance, and the rule of law. These outcomes result from their interactions with a complex network of institutions at local, national, and supranational levels. In this sense, the questionnaires minimized references to government institutions, focusing instead on the perceptions and experiences of people in the city, town, or village where they live. Regional information was produced following the framework of territorial divisions of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) system.

This project is funded by the EU and complements other research activities conducted by the WJP with the mission of advancing the rule of law worldwide. This data may also complement other monitoring tools that aim to promote a rule of law culture and enhance economic, social, and territorial cohesion in the EU, such as the European Commission’s yearly Rule of Law Report, the EU Justice Scoreboard, and the Cohesion Report, among others.

Key Findings

Democracy and Fundamental Rights:

• People can vote freely: Most people in EU regions agree that they can vote freely, without feeling harassed or pressured.
• Fundamental freedoms are protected: The freedoms of assembly, association, and expression are well-protected across most EU regions; however, some regions are falling short in upholding these essential rights.
• People worry about misinformation: Most people in EU regions believe senior government officials use misinformation to shape public opinion in their favor.
• Discrimination is a challenge across the EU regions: Over 25% of people faced discrimination during the past year in approximately 80% of EU regions.

Justice and Safety:

• Most people who experienced legal problems got the advice they needed: Legal problems are ubiquitous across EU regions. People facing legal problems have access to quality information and advice, and, to a lesser extent, appropriate assistance and representation, with important variations between regions.
• In general, people believe that justice is expensive: Across EU regions, respondents think that most people cannot easily afford the costs of legal assistance and representation, or the costs of dispute resolution mechanisms if they face a legal problem, with significant variations between regions.
• Criminal justice is generally considered effective, but not everyone feels they benefit equally. Most people in EU regions agree that the criminal justice system is effective and respects the rights of both victims and the accused, though there are important variations between regions. However, many believe that not everyone is treated equally.

Transparency and Corruption:

• For the most part, people do not think that state institutions are corrupt: Across EU regions, most people do not believe courts, parliaments, or other state institutions are corrupt. However, concerns exist regarding national governments and parliaments in regions of about a third of EU countries. Additionally, in regions of more than half of EU countries, people believe that political parties are the most corrupt compared to other state institutions.
• Anticorruption measures are seen as ineffective: Across EU regions, most people believe government efforts to control corruption have been ineffective so far.
• Authorities are perceived as transparent and providing information: Expert assessments of transparency and access to information at local level across EU regions are to a large extent positive, and most people believe that local authorities provide accessible information.

General Trends Across Regions:

• Governance is important for development: Across EU regions, where democratic governance is stronger, so is economic development.
• People have more trust in local authorities: Public trust is higher in local authorities than in national governments across EU regions, with 52% of respondents trusting local governments compared to 41% for national ones.
• Governance varies less within countries than across them: Public perceptions of the rule of law vary more between countries than across regions of the same country.
• People in urban and rural areas largely agree on justice and the rule of law, with some exceptions: Across EU regions, urban and rural residents generally share similar views on issues related to justice and the rule of law, though differences emerge in specific regions, countries, population groups, and topics.
• Gender inequality persists: Across EU regions, women generally share similar views to men on justice and the rule of law but hold more negative opinions regarding gender equality in both public and private life.

About this Report

EUROVOICES presents two different types of indicators: Expert Scorecard and People’s Voices. The Expert Scorecard provides an aggregated score at either the subnational or national level, depending on the topic, based on data from WJP’s survey of local and independent legal experts and practitioners from different disciplines. Explore the variable map, found in the “downloads” section, with information on the individual expert survey questions that make up each aggregated score. People’s Voices presents selected question-level data from household surveys to representative samples across the EU on each topic. Additional data and sociodemographic breakdowns of the People’s Voices indicators can be explored on the EUROVOICES dashboard. For all indicators, country-level data, when presented, is calculated using weighted averages of region-level scores based on population size.

This report, Justice and Safety, consists of three chapters: (1) Civil Justice, (2) Criminal Justice, and (3) Safety. Each chapter contains thematic findings, definitions for each indicator included, as well as graphs with data from both the expert and household surveys (Expert Scorecard and People’s Voices, respectively).

When the rule of law prevails, both governing authorities and the people they serve respect the rights of others, contributing to a secure and just society. Additionally, people should have access to effective legal mechanisms to resolve their legal issues or seek redress for violations of their rights. In conceptualizing safety and access to justice, WJP uses a people-centered approach, focusing on individuals’ justice journeys. This approach seeks to analytically reconstruct people’s experiences as they navigate different justice services in their quest to resolve their legal disputes.

1. Civil Justice: The first chapter of this report focuses on civil justice, defined as the array of services and mechanisms people use to resolve non-criminal disputes, including family, labor, commercial, environmental, administrative, and financial disputes, as well as consumer issues.

   Indicators for civil justice include (1) legal capability, (2) access to legal aid and representation in case of civil disputes, (3) accessible, appropriate, and timely dispute resolution, (4) impartial and independent dispute resolution, (5) outcome-oriented and effective dispute resolution, and (6) alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

   To further explore these issues, the chapter concludes with new, region-specific findings from the WJP Global Legal Needs Survey (a special module included in the household surveys), which provides in-depth insights into the prevalence of civil and administrative legal problems and the efficacy of the justice system for resolving those problems, as experienced by individuals seeking justice.

2. Criminal Justice: Strong rule of law systems depend on the ability of impartial and independent criminal justice mechanisms to redress grievances and bring action against individuals for offenses against society. Effective criminal justice mechanisms ensure that victims of criminal acts have access to competent, prompt, and effective mechanisms for criminal investigation, prosecution, and adjudication. Moreover, these justice services must be accessible to all members of society, regardless of where they live or their personal characteristics.

   Additionally, the criminal justice system must follow due process and uphold the rights of all involved parties, including victims, individuals accused of a crime, and persons deprived of their liberty. This chapter includes indicators on (1) effective and impartial criminal investigation, (2) effective and impartial prosecution and pre-trial proceedings, (3) effective and impartial criminal adjudication, (4) alternative criminal justice mechanisms, (5) victims’ rights, (6) due process of law, and (7) right of persons deprived of liberty.

3. Safety: Security is one of the defining aspects of any rule of law society and is a fundamental function of the state. It is also a precondition for the realization of the rights and freedoms that the rule of law seeks to advance. Thus, effective crime control and the reduction of violence are key components of the rule of law.

   This chapter examines how well governments meet these safety objectives by focusing on two indicators from the general population poll: (1) perceptions of safety and (2) control of violence.