Terror in ParisFrance’s invokes EU treaty’s mutual defense assistance article
Jean-Yves Le Drian, France’s defense minister, has formally asked other EU members for help in fighting ISIS — the first time ever that the EU treaty’s article 42.7, the EU mutual assistance article, has been invoked. Article 42.7 of the EU treaty states that in the event of “armed aggression” EU countries have “an obligation of aid and assistance by all means in their power.” Article 42.7 has been added to the Lisbon Treaty in the wake of the 2004 attack by al-Qaeda terrorists on a train in Madrid, an attack in which 192 people were killed.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, France’s defense minister, has formally asked other EU members for help in fighting ISIS — the first time ever that the EU treaty’s article 42.7, the EU mutual assistance article, has been invoked.
“In Brussels, I have just invoked Article 42.7,” Le Drian tweeted during the EU defense ministers meeting.
“France would like to ask its European partners for their bilateral support in the fight against Daesh [ISIS’s Arabic acronyms] in Iraq and Syria as well as increased military participation from member states in operational theatres where France is deployed,” an EU aide has told AFP.
Le Drian’s request has been approved unanimously, and what was described by participants as an emotional session.
Le Drian conceded that France was overstretched. “France can’t do everything. It can’t act alone,” he said. “Every country said, I am going to help you. That can take different forms. There are many types of assistance possible, whether in the Middle Eastern arena or elsewhere.
“How is this going to work?” said Le Drian. “It may be by cooperating with French interventions in Syria, in Iraq, it may be in support of France in other operations.”
Article 42.7 of the EU treaty — also known as the Lisbon Treaty – states that in the event of “armed aggression” EU countries have “an obligation of aid and assistance by all means in their power.”
Article 42.7 has been added to the Lisbon Treaty in the wake of the 2004 attack by al-Qaeda terrorists on a train in Madrid, an attack in which 192 people were killed.
The EU does not have a military, so the approval of article 42.7 request means that France will now negotiate with individual countries the details of the kind of military and security assistance France needs, and that those states would not have to ask specific permission from the EU for extending such assistance to France.
Ireland, Austria, and Sweden regard themselves as neutral states, and are exempt from article 42.7 obligations.
The United Kingdom and Germany announced that they stand ready to assist France in line with the EU treaty.
The Telegraph notes that France has so far not invoked the NATO article 5, which guarantees obligates member states to assist another member state under attack. NATO’s article 5 gives signatories the right to wage war as an act of self-defense.
It has only been invoked once: By the United States after 9/11.
