e. Internal security 112. Internal security and civil protection require a whole-of-government approach. The Ministry of the Interior has the key, though not sole, responsibility for the process, and there are a number of other actors, each with its own specific responsibilities. Czechia’s internal security requires a united approach and a uniform State policy. The Interior Ministry’s role is to make our State and society resilient to the threats. To this end, the Government will regularly analyse the internal security developments. The results of the analysis will inform our choice of priorities, each priority being allocated the appropriate capacities. 113. Czechia’s internal security must be seen in the context of global, especially European, developments. It is inseparable from the security of Europe. Europe’s security influences Czechia’s security directly as well as indirectly. This means that the answers to many of our security problems must be searched for at the EU level. Many of the threats to our internal security originate elsewhere, a fact to which our internal security policy must give considerable weight. 114. The Ministry of the Interior is a central body of the State responsible for internal affairs, including public order and some areas of internal order and security: crime prevention, road safety, possession of arms and ammunition, migration and asylum, fire protection, crisis management, civil emergency planning, civil protection, integrated rescue system, and the administrative penalties procedure. It operates the communication networks serving our security and rescue mechanisms. It supports the public administration system to work in the optimal way and to be resilient—a function highly relevant to our internal security. The Ministry of the Interior has an important role to play in preventing and suppressing hybrid threats and in building our resilience to the influence of foreign powers. 115. The Government will pay increased attention to the threats that affect our internal security on a country-wide scale and are associated with other security concerns. In these cases, the Government will use the whole-ofsociety approach. The threats include interference by foreign powers in the internal affairs and functioning of our State and our public administration at large, in our political or economic decision-making processes and our information environment, influence of foreign powers on our free society, as well as dangerous manipulation of information, extremism, radicalization, and terrorism. These threats exploit the vulnerabilities of the democratic rule of law to gain control over the political and economic life of our democratic republic with the assistance of internal actors. The activities aim to progressively undermine the foundations of our democratic State. We must use all legitimate means to stave them off. 36 116. The steps taken by the Government to safeguard our internal security interests will involve engaging in international cooperation mainly within the EU and NATO, working together with our civil society as well as business and academic communities, improving public awareness and education, monitoring and analysing the security situation, exchanging information, coordinating the bodies of the State, utilizing the State’s strategic communication, making the public administration system more resilient to the threats, and consistently enforcing law. The Government will have to allocate sufficient capacities for these purposes. 117. Migration has increasing security implications in the European as well as national contexts. This is partly due to its increasingly strong association with security threats such as organized crime, human trafficking, and terrorism. Another reason is the surging migration flow driven by economic reasons and regional conflicts and increasingly also by the effects of climate change. Last but not least, this is due to the way some international actors instrumentalize migration. Czechia’s migration policy will prevent and efficiently address the negative phenomena associated with migration, and it will mitigate the impacts. It is important to use a preventive approach in the potential source countries of the migration flows. It is also necessary to pay attention to the transit countries affected by the massive movements of people. The core task is to consistently protect the EU’s external border and to build the EU’s resilience by efficiently managing the crucial mechanisms of its migration policy. The number and structure of immigrants residing in Czechia’s territory must reflect the benefits they bring to our country as well as our country’s absorption capacity. A successful migration policy requires thorough monitoring, timely identification of the risk phenomena, flexibility, and rapid response to emerging trends. It must be underpinned by functioning administrative, criminal, and returns processes. Last but not least, it must be allocated sufficient capacities. 118. The crime prevention and suppression system protects individuals as well as communities. Its role also involves protecting and assisting crime victims, especially the most vulnerable ones. The key criterion for a State’s credibility is whether the people feel secure as well as confident that the State is taking care of their local security situation. Accordingly, the Government will see to it that security institutions work consistently at the local level and will provide them with the necessary support in terms of legislation, policies, guidance, and funding. Internal security is very vulnerable to the impacts of serious general and economic crime, organized crime and corruption, and the increasingly widespread and sophisticated online crime. Here, the Government must keep its priorities under review to reflect the emerging new forms, means and modalities for the fight against crime. The key is to bolster our capacities for 37