Strengthening Resilience — Towards the European Democracy Shield (IUST_STU(2025)777917)

Commissioned by the EUDS Special Committee, Bressanelli's comprehensive study maps the full landscape of EU democratic resilience instruments — regulatory, institutional, and civil society — and assesses where the architecture is strong, where gaps persist, and what reforms the European Democracy Shield needs to address. It is the most systematic gap analysis of EU democratic resilience infrastructure currently available from an institutional source.

The study's most important contribution is its honest accounting of where existing instruments are not working: where DSA enforcement has been slow, where EEAS analytical capacity is insufficient, where civil society funding is fragile, and where member state implementation is inconsistent. For policymakers working on EDS implementation and for practitioners advising on EU institutional reform, this is the authoritative baseline.