Democracy remains the most common form of government across Europe.

Yet, democratic erosion, backsliding and deepening autocratization present growing challenges. The state of Civil Liberties and Checks on Government in many of eastern Europe's former communist countries were, at the end of 2020, comparable to when they joined the European Union. For more than a decade, a majority of Europe's established democracies have seen their democratic qualities stagnate rather than improve. Some have experienced erosion of democratic processes and fundamental rights, and several others have deteriorated to the point where they can hardly be qualified as democracies.