Bohuslav Sobotka

Functional responsibility for the decisions of the European Council

This includes:

• the Council conclusions in March 2015, which called for “strengthening Triton" (See European Council Report, 2015 - Operation Triton).

• the Council conclusions in April 2015, which increased funds for Operations Triton and Poseidon without meaningfully expanding the operation’s search and rescue activities (See European Council Report, 2015 - Operation Triton).

The Slovak Presidency during the 2014/15 cycle actively coordinated numerous multi-level meetings on forming a common position leading to the fact that “the voice of the V4 countries was reflected in… [the] migration [policy of the EU]… [specifically] in the European Council Conclusions of June 2015.” These conclusions came shortly after the launch of EUNAVFOR MED and highlighted the need to “better contain the growing flows of illegal migration…. [and] reinforce… overall cooperation with countries of origin and transit… on stemming the flows of irregular migrants and on tackling the root causes of migration so as to reduce the incentives for illegal migration.” (See V4 Report; Slovak Presidency July 2014 – June 2015). It can be assumed that Sobotka in his capacity as prime minister participated in these meetings.

The V4 also held a meeting with the German Foreign Minister, Frank Walter Steinmeier, and the Luxembourg Foreign Minister, Jean Asselborn, on the topic of migration on 11 September 2015.1 They issued a Joint Communiqué putting forward several points, notably a call for a reinforcement of Operation Sophia (See V4 Report; Czech Presidency July 2015 – June 2016)

Functional responsibility for the decisions of the European Council

This includes:

• the Council conclusions in April 2015, which aksed the Commission to lay the groundwork for an anti-smuggling operation, which would become Operation Sophia (See European Council Report, 2015 - Operation Triton).

Functional responsibility for the repeated efforts of the European Councilt to rhetorically marginalize refugees

This includes:

• efforts to frame the refugee crisis not as a humanitarian issue but as a matter of border control. E.g., the December 2015 Council conclusions stressed the need to “regain control over the external borders. (See European Council Report, 2015 - Valletta Summit). Likewise, in February 2016, the Council emphasized its dissatisfaction with the “slow” pace of regaining control of external borders and highlighted the “necessity” to act swiftly on limiting migration. (See European Council Report, 2016). In addition, the Bratislava Declaration of September 2016 reiterated the need to “ensure full control of external borders” (See European Council Report, 2016)

• efforts to frame the refugee crisis as a matter of "illegal migration," a phrase used repeatedly, e.g. in the Council conclusions of October 2017 (See European Council Report: 2017: The Libyan Coastguards; European Council Report: 2018)

In a letter addressed to the Italian Prime Minister, the V4 “assure[d] [Italy]… that [the V4 were] ready to contribute… to stopping the departures from Libya… and stemming irregular migration flows to Europe and especially Italy.” They went further in detailing what this support could look like: contributions to “EU activities at the Southern borders of Libya; Training of the Libyan coastguard; Strengthening of capacities of EASO; The Code of Conduct on NGOs. (See V4 Hungarian Presidency).

Functional responsibility for the decisions of the European Council 5/2015–06/2019

This includes:

• November 2015 Action Plan decided at the Valletta Summit, which laid the groundwork for sharing maritime surveillance data with Libya. (See European Council Report, 2015 – Valletta Summit)

Functional responsibility for the decisions of the European Council 5/2015–06/2019

This includes:

• November 2015 Action Plan decided at the Valletta Summit, which launched the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa to assist with “migration management projects" and thus created a financial tool for the future trainig of the LYCG (See European Council Report, 2015 – Valletta Summit). Sipila's own government supported the fund with 5 million Euros. (See European Council Report, 2015 – Valletta Summit)