President Nikos Christodoulides has sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen demanding that the European Union resume discussions on its mutual defence clause, after the matter found itself at the centre of discussions when EU leaders met in Cyprus in April, but has since fallen off the agenda.
The sending of the letter was confirmed to the Cyprus Mail by presidential press office director Victor Papadopoulos, though he said he could offer no further details, while news website Politico quoted Christodoulides as having written that “I cannot overstate the importance of this provision for the EU and its member states”.
This, he wrote, rings true “especially in times of geopolitical uncertainty”.
“Given the gravity of the challenges we face, Cyprus would welcome the resumption of discussions at the relevant preparatory bodies. I would therefore appreciate an update on the proposals under consideration, as well as a timeline for next steps,” he wrote.
The leaders of the EU’s 27 member states had during a European Council summit in Nicosia in April resolved to demand the creation of a defence “playbook”, with Cypriot government sources at the time lamenting that “nothing has been done” in the decade since the first and only time that the bloc’s mutual defence clause was activated.
It was France which triggered Article 42.7 of the Treaty of the European Union, better known as the Lisbon Treaty, after Paris was hit by a series of terrorist attacks in November 2015.
Article 42.7 not attached to any formal operational plans
While the text of the treaty 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 the means in their power”, it is not attached to any formal operational plans or international military structures.
Government sources lamented in April that “there is no clear picture of procedures, capabilities, or response times across member states”, and also decried what they described as a lack of clarity regarding the types of support which can be requested, what each member state may provide, and how quickly assistance can be delivered.
They also stressed that if a member state triggers Article 42.7, assistance must not be optional.
“It is a legal obligation, not a political choice,” they said, before adding that “member states cannot question the reasons” behind the triggering of the clause if it is triggered, provided that an armed attack has taken place.
However, in the six months since that summit, the matter of defence has slipped down the European agenda, with the most recent European Council summit, held in Brussels, being dedicated largely to the EU’s multiannual financial framework, its budget for the years between 2028 and 2034, while conversations on defence centred on Ukraine, which remains, for now, outside the bloc.
Focus inside EU has now shifted to multi-year budget
The focus on the budget has come with most leaders across Europe aiming to have the next multiannual financial framework devised and agreed upon by the member states by the end of this year.
Christodoulides had said on this matter last week that should an agreement not be reached by the end of this year, “I believe we would be sending a negative message, not only to European citizens, but to the world”.
Mutual defence was most recently discussed at the European Parliament last month, with the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas decrying “Russia’s hybrid warfare in Europe” and calling for measures to be taken against it.
“Putin is a textbook bully. Moscow’s hybrid attacks are designed to intimidate us, paralyse our societies and make us hesitate to act. That is precisely what Putin wants. We should not let fear dictate our choices. We should match the level of these attacks with concrete action and a confident response. Europe’s security requires it and citizens expect it,” she said.
Cypriot MEPs called for stronger Article 42.7, looser relations with Turkey
In response, Cypriot MEP Costas Mavrides, of Diko, said that “hybrid attacks are also taking place for years by the neo-Ottoman Erdogan regime against member states in the eastern Mediterranean” in reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He called for the EU’s mutual defence clause, Article 42.7 of the Treaty of the European Union, which is commonly known as the Lisbon Treaty, to be made “workable and operational”, before telling to Kallas that “your double standard policy is increasing part of the problem” regarding Turkey.
Fellow Cypriot MEP Geadis Geadi, of Elam, also called for the EU to “establish a clear roadmap for activating Article 42.7”, saying that this should “ensure that the mutual defence clause can be applied immediately and effectively”, and also criticised the EU for not treating Turkey and Russia in the same way.
“Mrs Kallas, be careful when you shake hands which are stained with the blood of hundreds and thousands of innocent people,” he said.