Beata Szydlo

In 2016, the suspect made contradictory declarations to the plan that had been voted by her predecessor: “I say very clearly that I see no possibility at this time of immigrants coming to Poland.” (See V4 Report; Czech Presidency)

The trend of increasing concentration of the V4 on migration continued under the 2016/17 Polish Presidency and ultimately resulted in the creation of the V4’s “Migration Crisis Response Mechanism” to “exchange good practices [between states]… [in light] of the uncontrolled mixed migration movements [being] a threat to the EU and Member States security.” (See Visegrad Report; Polish Presidency).

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)

The trend of increasing concentration of the V4 on migration continued under the 2016/17 Polish Presidency and ultimately resulted in the creation of the V4’s “Migration Crisis Response Mechanism” to “exchange good practices [between states]… [in light] of the uncontrolled mixed migration movements [being] a threat to the EU and Member States security.” (See Visegrad Report; Polish Presidency).

V4 promoted the criminalization of NGOs and called for a EU code of conduct for NGOs operating in the Mediterranean.(See V4 Report; NGO Criminilization).

Letter (July 2017) addressed to the Italian Prime Minister on the same day which “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).

letter (July 2017) addressed to the Italian Prime Minister on the same day which “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 (See V4 Hungarian Presidency).

Functional responsibility for the decisions of the European Council

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

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

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)