Building societal resilience—rooted in public trust, access to reliable information, and genuine citizen engagement—emerges as the EU’s most vital defense against the forces of autocratisation.
According to the V-Dem Institute Democracy report 2025, the level of democracy for the average world citizen is back to 1985. Liberal democracies have become the least common regime type in the world - nearly 3 out of 4 persons (72%) now live in autocracies. This is the highest since 1978, and it is a truly global wave of democratic backsliding.
In the September 2025 annual State of the Union address, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen declared that Europe is in a “fight” for its unity, freedom, and independence, for its values and democracies and for its future amid global conflicts and geopolitical tensions.
Two months later, in November 2025, the Commission announced the European Democracy Shield and its intention to set up a European Centre for Democratic Resilience to strengthen coordination and information-sharing among EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and Member States, and support operational cooperation and capacity building. This initiative is at least timely if not delayed, as satisfaction with democracy continues to be low, including in the EU, as a new Ipsos Knowledge Panel survey in nine countries - Croatia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US – finds deep worries about the future state of democracy.
The main threats are seen to be fake news, lack of accountability among politicians, extremist parties/politician, and corruption. With stronger anti-corruption laws and enforcement, independent courts, stronger social media regulation, and civic education all seen as most effective for strengthening democracy.
However, as a citizen-centric European civil society organisation with 35 years of experience in empowering Europeans to exercise their rights (in order to create a more inclusive and stronger European Union), the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) knows that what lies at the core of the democratic resilience is societal resilience.
Societal resilience is dependent on the capacity of citizens to recognise disinformation and understand, contribute to and actively engage with EU decisions, even when and especially when the latter are unpopular and come at a cost, but are needed. Even the most ambitious policies are unlikely to succeed without trust, comprehension, and active citizen engagement, which makes them legitimate and “owned” by citizens. Empowered and resilient citizens are crucial for upholding democracy by supporting what is right and value based, thus countering hybrid threats and populist narratives.
Unfortunately, with nearly half of Europeans (50%) declaring public distrust in democratic institutions and processes (Special Eurobarometer 568), all institutional efforts and ambitions are doomed to fail unless there is an honest recognition of the main problem Europe is facing nowadays - the lack of trust of its citizens.
Europe is “in a fight” indeed but this must be a fight first and foremost for the hearts and minds of the European citizens. To prevent the constant cycle of crisis management and build democratic resilience, the EU urgently needs to do its homework first – to restore the trust of its citizens and co-decide with them its vision and decisions on the future of the EU.
On the positive side, it seems that Europeans still share common democratic values which is a strong basis for restoring trust. In all seven European countries covered by the Ipsos Knowledge Panel, there is a preference for political leaders who build consensus over leaders who stick to their principles regardless of others, and clear support for the view that voting can influence things, despite scepticism. In addition, slightly more than half (52%) of the Europeans have a positive image of the EU and about the same percentage believe that EU actions have a positive impact on their daily lives (EP Spring 2025 Survey).
On the negative side, although the EU Institutions have an obligation to ensure systematic involvement in the decision-making process of both civil society organisations and citizens through participatory democracy instruments, such as the European Citizens’ Initiative, consultations and the EU citizen panels, as many as 78% of Europeans admit that they are not familiar with the participatory instruments at the EU level, meaning they have never used them.
Protecting and Promoting Democracy - November 2025 - Eurobarometer survey
While there is no ‘silver bullet’ that can create miraculous solutions overnight, what we need is a clear recognition by the European institutions and the Member States. That, firstly, strengthening Europe’s democratic resilience requires investing in societal resilience, building trust, empowering citizens and encouraging active participation. Citizens must be engaged at scale through innovative, inclusive methods that capture citizens’ hopes and fears, and work through them.
Secondly, as we live in fragmented societies, there is a need to bridge civic divides through inclusive and sustained dialogue that strengthens mutual understanding to build trust among citizens from different regions and socio-demographic and age groups. Citizens’ voices and experiences are different and sometimes controversial but all of them need to be factored in when shaping Europe’s responses to democratic challenges if we want to live in an EU that delivers for all.
Finally, communication is key–decision-making needs to be evidence based, but it also must translate into engaging narratives that resonate with citizens and reinforce trust.
In the words of the former European Parliament President David Sassoli to the European Council: “Democracy is an institutional and legal system, which is based on the trust of citizens. To earn and maintain trust, unity and transparency are needed. This is even more true in times of crisis”.
Europe’s battle for its democracy in 2026 is therefore a battle for the trust of the Europeans. Only empowered and resilient citizens can safeguard the Union’s democratic future.
Assya Kavrakova, Executive Director, European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)
