Macron says EU’s mutual defence clause ‘not just words’ | European Union

Emmanuel Macron talked about Europe’s ability to defend itself, saying that the mutual assistance clause in the EU treaty is clear and “not just words.”

The French president said the agreement was already in force when many member states sent military aid to Cyprus following a drone attack on a British air base on the island on February 28.

“The 7th paragraph of Article 42 is not just about words,” the French leader said. “We know that this is clear to us and there is no room for interpretation or ambiguity.”

Macron, who is in Greece to renew a bilateral strategic defense agreement, described the clause as “stronger” than Article 5, NATO’s collective defense clause, reiterating his long-standing belief that Europe is better off boosting its own security rather than relying on the increasingly unstable United States under Donald Trump. “I truly believe that this approach of the United States will continue,” he said.

A day earlier, EU leaders attending an informal council in Cyprus said plans were being examined for how the vague article would work in practice. Speaking on Friday, European Council President António Costa said: “We are designing the handbook [on] How to use this mutual aid clause.”

Macron questioned the effectiveness of NATO’s article when asked about the military alliance and its founding principle that its members come to each other’s aid if attacked.

“There is now a doubt about Article 5, which was put on the table not by the Europeans but by the US president,” he told the audience during a debate with the Greek prime minister in the capital’s picturesque Roman-era agora. “This is clearly a de facto weakening of the NATO alliance… I have a strong belief in the European leg of NATO and my view is that we need to strengthen this European leg.”

His Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis appeared to agree, saying the sending of warplanes and naval support to Cyprus was a “game changer” for the bloc.

In the early days of the US-Israeli war against Iran, France, Greece, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal scrambled to send aid to the island, amid fears that the Union’s easternmost member would be subject to sustained retaliatory attack.

“What we did in Cyprus was a game-changer,” Mitsotakis said, stressing that it was time for the little-known defense agreement to be taken seriously.

“We have a mutual assistance clause in our treaties and that is our European responsibility. We never talked about it because we thought NATO would always do the job… We need to take that clause much more seriously; we need to look at the lesson of Cyprus, think about what could happen in another situation, practice what it would mean to offer renewed support to a European country under threat.”

This, he added, would amount to a “political statement” that the EU not only trusts NATO but also “will be good for NATO”.

Angered by NATO’s failure to support attacks on Iran, the US president stepped up his criticism of the transatlantic alliance and further raised concerns that Washington’s support for Article 5 was no longer guaranteed.

Macron, who will make his third official visit to Greece before leaving office next year, said that the strong alliance between the two countries should serve as a model for the rest of the EU.

An unprecedented nine agreements were signed between countries on Saturday, envisaging increased cooperation in areas such as scientific research and nuclear technology. Macron has promised that France will stand by Greece if it comes under attack from Türkiye, its neighbor and long-time regional rival.

In 2017, then-newly elected Macron used the dramatic setting of the ancient Pnyx beneath the Acropolis of Athens to deliver a stirring policy speech on the future of Europe and the virtues of democracy.

The tone nine years later could not be more different. He said that in a time of such geopolitical uncertainty, Europe must “wake up” and take its place as a geopolitical power facing rivals it has not faced before.

“We must not underestimate that this is a unique moment in which a U.S. president, a Russian president and a Chinese president died against Europeans,” he told the crowd. Having managed to end centuries of civil war and achieve prosperity, the continent now had to “write the next chapter and become a geopolitical power.”