While challenges exist in all EU Member States, their exact nature and extent vary across countries. They include: disadvantageous changes in legislation or inadequate implementation of laws; hurdles to accessing financial resources and ensuring their sustainability; difficulties in accessing decision- makers and feeding into law and policymaking; and attacks on and harassment of human rights defenders, including negative discourse aimed at delegitimising and stigmatising CSOs.

FRA’s full report on this issue looks at the different types and patterns of challenges faced by civil society organisations across the EU, and highlights promising practices that can counteract these worrying patterns. This summary outlines the report’s main findings and FRA’s opinions on the issues these raise.