Seeing the signs: Brussels’ criticism of corrupt practices last year emboldened Bulgarians to call for their government to step down. Photograph: Reuters

Newspapers muzzled by the government, an almighty organised crime network, rampant discrimination against ethnic minorities.

Brussels likes to wag a finger in righteous indignation at Turkey and the Balkan countries for violations of this kind and cite them as proof that these candidates are a long way from being ready to join the EU club. But when these violations occur on home turf – in, say, Italy – the admonishing hand turns limp and the EU struggles with the merest verbal ticking off.

“If Italy were to apply for EU membership today, it would fail,” says Liberal Dutch MEP, Sophie In’t Veld. “It’s a country where press freedom is under threat, corruption is rampant and it has stamped all over the basic rights of asylum seekers. But the EU doesn’t have the will do to anything about it.”

The long queue of would-be members cry foul at what they see as a clear case of double standards. Many accuse Brussels of deliberately raising the bar with increasingly stringent accession criteria as a way of keeping newcomers out, while it issues existing members with carte blanche to tear up its own rule book.

The way in which Italy is seemingly being allowed to get away with this has incensed the Socialists, Liberals and Greens, who clubbed together in October to protest against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s control of the domestic media. Berlusconi has a grip over vast swathes of the media landscape, with de facto control over six out of the seven main terrestrial television channels. The resolution was three votes short of being passed, thanks to efforts by the powerful European People’s Party group (EPP) to protect their Italian political ally. EPP leader Joseph Daul had argued against meddling in another country’s domestic affairs, saying: “It’s very unfortunate that the European Parliament is being used to address national issues…This is just a political game being played to embarrass a political adversary.”

Ever since Berlusconi embarked on a range of more controversial policies, including a crackdown on the country’s Roma community, the EU has agonised over what to do to bring Italy to heel – and it has, consequently, ended up doing very little. “The last thing people want is an internal row because of the EU sticking its nose in one of its member state’s affairs......