The four states received grade 2 in both categories assessed, 'political rights' and 'civil liberties' respectively , the lowest score in the EU, under the circumstances where no less than 22 countries have received the highest grade, 1 in both categories. According to the classification made by Freedom House, the lowest possible score is 7, but no EU country has been rated lower than 2 in any of the two categories.
Moreover, all the 28 EU countries included in the Freedom House evaluation are rated as 'free', compared to the Americas, for example, where only 68% of the countries enjoy this status.
Asked what were the reasons for which Latvia, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania achieved the lowest scores in the EU, the Freedom House vice-president for research , Arch Puddington said that for Latvia there were 'problems with the rule of law, with people kept months or years in detention before trial , an issue with freedom of the press, especially the lack of transparency in some media shareholders'.
“For Bulgaria and Romania, in particular, corruption and the rule of law are huge problems. Bulgaria has suffered from the last year events, where there was a step back from the normal rules of governance. In Romania, I know that several years ago there were many concerns about efforts to suspend the president, but he won the referendum and this has been accepted and he is still president. And this is positive from our point of view, " the representative of Freedom House added.
He said that in addition to corruption, there was a concern about Russian influence over the two states.
'I should add that Romania, Bulgaria and other new member states have much less experience with democratic governance than the Netherlands and Belgium, for example. In this regard, you should expect that the new entrants scores for these countries be lower, " Arch Puddington added.
The section dedicated to the EU report states that 'Bulgaria suffered a small decline in score due to less transparent appointment decisions of the Socialist-led government and its refusal to respond to months of mass protests that have called for electoral reforms and fighting corruption'.
In turn, Romania is mentioned, along with Italy, among the countries with high levels of corruption that have registered 'little progress'. Romania, for example, notes the report, had a greater number of prosecutions of high-ranking politicians, including ministers and MPs.
Regarding the decline in 2009-2013, this was obvious in the Central African Republic (-33 points), while the only European country in the top ten is Ukraine, with a decrease of 17 points over this period.