The Invocation of the European Union's Mutual Assistance Clause: A Call for Enforced Solidarity

In: European foreign affairs review, Volume 22, Issue 3, p. 357-375

Abstract

After the 13 November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, France invoked Article 42(7) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), the so-called mutual assistance clause, for the first time since the 2009 Lisbon Treaty introduced it. France wanted its European Union (EU) partners to assist it in fighting the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group, which was behind the attacks. However, France's decision to invoke the article, which had previously been seen as merely symbolic with little actual relevance, is puzzling. The reason for this is that France could have also sought assistance through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) much more robust Article 5 or the EU's solidarity clause, which is specifically designed for responding to terrorist attacks. However, France chose Article 42(7) over the alternatives because it was more flexible and came with less political baggage. It also enabled France to demand that other Member States make additional contributions to its various foreign and security policy actions around the world to alleviate the burden they were placing on it. In other words, it allowed France to call for 'enforced solidarity', which went beyond what it could have demanded from its partners in less extraordinary circumstances.