The European Union is considering taking practical steps to activate the joint defense clause

As part of efforts to enhance its security capabilities, the European Union is working to take practical steps to activate the mutual defense clause stipulated in the Lisbon Treaty, amid growing doubts about the future of NATO.

European diplomatic sources revealed that the European External Action Service is currently working on preparing a guide that explains to member states how and when to activate Article 42, Paragraph 7, known as the mutual assistance clause in the European Union, which is still less known compared to Article 5 of the NATO Charter.

According to the information, the guide will include details of the resources and capabilities that the European Union can provide if this clause is activated, in addition to preparing practical scenarios that include three cases: activating NATO’s collective defense clause, activating the European Union clause, or activating both.

Member state delegations are scheduled to begin next May to conduct administrative simulations to test the mechanisms for activating this item, with the results of these exercises to be used in drafting the final document. Preparations are also being made to hold a discussion at the level of European ambassadors on this issue.

This move comes at a time when Iranian drone attacks targeting Cyprus have reopened the debate about the effectiveness of the mutual assistance clause, as these incidents have raised questions among European diplomats about how to use this legal framework in practice.

In this context, the President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, called for the inclusion of the activation of Article 42 on the agenda of the upcoming European summit, stressing that this mechanism has been subjected to practical testing and has contributed to giving it a clear practical dimension.

This development also comes against the backdrop of repeated statements by US President Donald Trump in which he questioned the validity of Article 5 of the NATO Charter, the latest of which was after Spain closed its airspace to aircraft participating in US and Israeli strikes against Iran.

Historically, the EU’s mutual assistance clause has only been activated once, when France resorted to it in 2015 following the 2015 Paris attacks, receiving logistical and intelligence support from several European countries, including Belgium and Germany.

In parallel, the European External Action Service is preparing a new security strategy for the Union, which includes a comprehensive threat assessment, a common political vision, and a roadmap for implementation, without yet confirming whether it will include an explicit reference to the common defense clause.