Updated | EU ‘war clause’ invoked by France brings Malta closer to conflict

France asked for assistance under Article 42.7 of the EU Treaty, in response to the terrorist attacks in Paris: an article, possibly never used before, that says “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.”

 A government source said the request will now be discussed bilaterally between France and member states.

“There is no need for any further decision by the Council,” a source said of the EU’s highest decision-making body. “Once the article is invoked, it is activated.”

In a statement, the government said that on advice of the Attorney General, the fact that a member state had requested assistance according to the TFEU, did not necessarily mean "actions that breach our neutrality clause, as protected by the Maltese Constitution."

In comments to Bloomberg, French defence minister Jean-Yves le Drian said France’s call for EU support in fighting Islamic State was “above all a political act.”

He said France would ask for help on a country-by-country basis.

EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini said some governments had already offered “material” assistance, others to offer support to free up French resources to fight Islamic State. “This calls for aid and assistance bilaterally,” Mogherini said. “This doesn’t imply an EU Common Security Defence Policy operation,” she said, in reference to possible military mission.

The Financial Times reported Monday evening that EU officials believe that the article’s invocation “will have little substance impact” because unlike NATO’s collective defence clause in – where an attack on one ally is an attack on all – the EU Treaty “taps into no common defence infrastructure”.

France can still invoke Article 5 of the NATO treaty, the collective defence clause used for the first time after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, which saw European allies flying air defence missions over New York and Washington following that decision.

On his part NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said that there had been no request for invoking Article 5, “but many NATO allies have offered France support and help and we are doing in many different ways.” He said NATO countries “are playing a key role in the coalition fighting ISIL” and said that while Russia could play a constructive role in Syria, “what we’ve seen so far is that most of the military actions have been targeted at targets not in ISIL-controlled areas.”

EU officials told FT that Article 42.7 was included in the EU treaty at the insistence of Greece, which wanted to have some kind of collective defence protection outside of NATO because its biggest military adversary — Turkey — is also covered by the NATO treaty. 

Hollande’s speech on Monday in an exceptional sitting of both houses of the French parliament in Versailles was kicked off with the words: “France is at war”.

He announced that on Tuesday France will invoke the European mutual defense clause.

Rather than Article 222 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Solidarity clause which requires assistance when a member state is “the object of a terrorist attack”, France chose to trigger article 42.7 of the Treaty on European Union.

He also announced that France has asked for a meeting and a resolution from the UN Security Council.

Hollande will meet US and Russian presidents, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, “to join our forces and reach a conclusion that has been too long overdue.”

“We are not in a war of civilisations, because they [the terrorists] don’t have any,” Hollande said.