Paris attacks: European Union defence clause ‘will not affect Irish neutrality’

The EU’s chief of diplomacy Federica Mogherini confirmed France will receive military assistance, but on bilateral tracks.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, hailing the decision as “a political act of great significance”, said he would begin separate talks with individual member states to determine how they could help in practice.

The official EU request said: “France would like to ask its European partners for their bilateral support in the fight against Daesh (IS) in Iraq and Syria as well as increased military participation from member states in operational theaters where France is deployed”.

The clause is not strictly the same as NATO’s mutual defence clause that considers an attack against one ally as an attack against all, but the article can be invoked the case of “armed aggression” on any European Union country.

“France is positioning itself as the principal security power in Europe also to balance out Germany’s position as the leading economic power and the center of the refugee crisis”, said a French source familiar with government thinking, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He said all 28 European Union member states had unanimously accepted France’s formal call for “aid and assistance” under the European Union treaty and he expected all to help quickly in various regions. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who joined the European Union defence ministers’ meeting, said the alliance was stepping up intelligence sharing with France.

Jacob Westberg, Senior Lecturer in Security Policy and Strategy at the National Defence College in Stockholm told TT that the nature of the article was such that Sweden would be granted a few flexibility in its response.

“We have declared that we are ready to send our F-16 jets back into action just as soon as they are militarily deemed ready”, foreign minister Kristian Jensen told the Ritzau news agency.

She added that Paris “will be in contact bilaterally with member states in the coming hours and days to specify the support it requires”. Before the meetin, Germany’s foreign minister Ursula von der Leyen said: “It goes without saying that we will do everything in our power to provide help and support”.

But it could offer support in coordinating requests for help by France, which in addition to its strikes on Syria is also involved in fighting jihadists in Mali and in keeping the peace in Central African Republic.

French military spokesman Col. Gilles Jaron said the latest airstrikes in the Islamic State group’s de-facto capital of Raqqa destroyed a command post and training camp.

“This is a political act, a political message”, Mogherini said about the mutual assistance pact. But strangely the US Department of State document listing out members of the anti-Islamic State coalition clearly states Malta as one of the countries that has made “contributions and commitments to date”.