In July 2025, the European Commission published its sixth edition of its annual Rule of Law Report, which provides a basis for deploying EU instruments to protect the rule of law and fundamental rights. For its latest edition, the report explicitly emphasizes the economic and budgetary impact of rule of law violations, making it easier to apply the budgetary instruments for rule of law conditionality. Yet, the report remains weak on fundamental rights and freedoms, as it does not adequately monitor regressions in this field. At a time of mounting challenges to liberal democracy, overlooking the monitoring of fundamental rights undermines the report’s relevance and credibility.