The EU is preparing a guide on the mutual defense mechanism — Euractiv
The European External Action Service is working on a guide that will explain how to apply the provisions on mutual defense within the EU.
This was reported by Euractiv.
This refers to Article 42.7 of the Lisbon Treaty, which provides for assistance to a member state in the event of a threat, but remains relatively unknown compared to NATO’s Article 5.
The document is expected to describe available resources and procedures for various scenarios—separately for the EU mechanism, NATO, or their simultaneous application.
Additionally, in May, EU countries may conduct special exercises to simulate such situations.
The intensified work on this issue is linked, in particular, to incidents in Cyprus, which was attacked by Iranian drones but did not activate the mutual assistance mechanism.
It is noted that in the entire history of the provision, Article 42.7 has been invoked only once—by France following the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.
The United Kingdom has responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement regarding the country’s possible withdrawal from NATO. Prime Minister Keir Starmer emphasized his commitment to the Alliance and assured that he would not allow the country to be drawn into war.
U.S. President Donald Trump is seriously considering the possibility of the United States withdrawing from NATO. According to him, this is because the Alliance did not join the U.S. operation against Iran.
