European leaders meeting on Thursday in Cyprus said there was a need to clarify mutual assistance amid doubts over US President Donald Trump's commitment to Nato.
The clause, contained in the treaty that underpins the EU, obliges countries to come to the aid of a fellow member if it comes under attack. But officials say there are currently no clear rules about how it should work in practice. It has only been invoked once, by France after the 2015 ISIS terror attacks in Paris.
Cyprus's President Nikos Christodoulides has pushed for leaders to discuss the clause, known as Article 47.2 of the treaty of the EU. Cyprus, a non-Nato state located in the Mediterranean close to the Levant, was recently attacked by an Iranian-made drone. France, Greece and Italy sent frigates to support its defence.
President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania, a Nato member on the border with Russia, said that he “fully understands the necessity to revive” Article 47.2. However, speaking as he arrived at the meeting of 27 heads of state, Mr Nauseda cautioned that it must not compete with Nato's Article 5, which states that an attack against one ally is an attack against all, and triggers mutual defence.
Tabletop exercise
“Article 5 is the key of our collective defence and collective security, and it will remain so,” Mr Nauseda said. Reports have indicated that Eastern European states, which attach high value to Nato's protection given their proximity to Russia, fear that reviving Article 47.2 may further weaken the Trump administration's interest in Nato.
Mr Nauseda also said that Lithuania and Cyprus are to be involved in a simulation exercise prepared by the EU's external action service. The simulation – an institutional affair called a “tabletop” exercise – aims to test how Article 47.2 would work in the current geopolitical environment.
Mr Trump has long been a critic of the alliance and recent events, including his stated intention to annex Greenland and his disparaging comments about Nato for not helping him to reopen the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war, have further soured relations.
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said there were “legal philosophical debates” about Article 47.2 and Nato's Article 5: “Which one is stronger, which one has more automaticity, which has less, what type of assistance is offered to a country that is attacked?” He added that Ukraine, which hopes to join both the EU and Nato, would need “strong security guarantees that are much wider than the European Union”.
Article 42.7 states that “if a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all means in their power”. The treaty adds that “this shall not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States”, and that action shall be consistent with commitments to Nato.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who attended the summit, said that his country needed help both from the US and the EU. Brussels approved a €90 billion loan for Ukraine on Thursday after months of wrangling.
Mr Zelenskyy added that Ukraine would start building its own anti-ballistic systems, in view of how fast the US had depleted its own during the latest Iran war.
“The United States produces about 60, maybe 65, Pac-3 missiles per month – anti-ballistic missiles. It's nothing. During the first day of the attack on the Middle East, they used the volume of two years' production in 24 hours. So we need our European, independent, strong system, and we will build it,” he said.
