Hungary is the only EU member ranked partly free
History
While its neighbors maintain full democratic credentials, this central European nation has seen its institutional guardrails dismantled to the point of losing its 'free' status entirely.
For over a decade, the European Union has operated with a statistical anomaly in its ranks. While every other member state is classified as a full democracy, Hungary holds the distinction of being the only member ranked as 'partly free' by the watchdog group Freedom House. This shift began around 2010, when the government began systematically redrawing voting districts and consolidating nearly 500 media outlets into a single state-aligned foundation.