Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed alarm Thursday over Italy’s trajectory following a closed-door hearing last week that previewed the European Union’s upcoming 2025 rule-of-law report for the country.

HRW condemned the Italian government’s “combative” attitude during the hearing, stating: 

In the face of serious concerns about the health of human rights in Italy, Italian authorities should engage constructively with EU institutions tasked with scrutinizing and protecting the rule of law in the country, and address all legitimate concerns through appropriate policy and legislative reforms. Angry reactions to scrutiny and dismissing concerns are the opposite of what one would expect from a mature democracy and an influential founder of the European Union.

The rights group urged Italy to address the concerns through legal reform and dialogue rather than defiance, calling on EU institutions to hold the country to its foundational commitments as a member of the union.

The session, convened by the European Parliament’s Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group, forms part of the EU’s broader oversight cycle. Italy’s Justice and Interior Ministers, Carlo Nordio and Matteo Piantedosi, declined to attend and sent lower-level officials in what some MEPs, including Belgian chair Sophie Wilmès, described as a “political boycott.”

The EU’s concerns over democratic backsliding in the country have intensified since the hearing, which was marked by the absence of key ministers and mounting evidence of governance failures under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration. The most prominent concerns have included the “abuse” of legislative decrees to avoid scrutiny and threats against press freedom. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), for instance, ranked Italy 49th out of 180 countries in its 2025 World Press Freedom Index.

One key issue drawing criticism is the Meloni government’s proposed Public Security Bill (Bill 1236), which has prompted sharp warnings from the Council of Europe. The council’s commissioner for human rights expressed concern in December that the bill threatens the rights of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and protest under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Critics also condemned the bill as “the most severe assault on protest freedoms in decades.”