Progress Toward a Circular Economy: A Comparative Analysis of EU Member States

Moving toward a circular economy is vital for sustainable development in the European Union. However, it is challenging to assess how well each member state is performing because there are many different factors, and the choices can be subjective. This study develops an assessment framework that integrates CRITIC-TOPSIS for objective analysis and Picture Fuzzy SWARA for subjective evaluation. The present study also used 20 circular economy factors from Eurostat for 2018 and 2023. The findings reveal shifts in factor importance over time, highlighting the impact of subjective judgments on policy evaluations and showing differences in country rankings depending on the weighting method. The study concludes that integrating both objective and subjective approaches provides a more comprehensive assessment of CE performance and supports more balanced policy development to provide insight for EU policy harmonization. Also, results indicated that Germany, France, and Italy were consistent leaders, while Estonia and Bulgaria lagged in both years. In addition, the analysis directly contributes to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), as the circular economy models enhance resource efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.