President Nikos Christodoulides has written to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen demanding that the European Union resume discussions on its mutual defence clause. The issue was central when EU leaders met in Cyprus in April and has since fallen off the agenda.
Presidential press office director Victor Papadopoulos confirmed the letter to the Cyprus Mail and said he could offer no further details. Politico quoted Christodoulides as writing that he could not overstate the importance of the provision for the EU and its member states, especially in times of geopolitical uncertainty. He wrote that, given the gravity of the challenges, Cyprus would welcome the resumption of discussions in the relevant preparatory bodies, and asked for an update on proposals under consideration and a timeline for next steps.
At a European Council summit in Nicosia in April, the leaders of the EU’s 27 member states resolved to demand a defence playbook. Cypriot government sources said at the time that nothing had been done in the decade since the bloc’s mutual defence clause was activated for the first and only time.
France triggered Article 42.7 of the Treaty on European Union, better known as the Lisbon Treaty, after Paris was hit by a series of terrorist attacks in November 2015. The treaty says 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. The clause is not attached to any formal operational plans or international military structures.
Government sources said in April that there was no clear picture of procedures, capabilities or response times across member states, and that it was unclear what support could be requested, what each member state might provide and how quickly assistance could be delivered. They said that if a member state triggers Article 42.7, assistance must not be optional, describing it as a legal obligation rather than a political choice, and said member states cannot question the reasons for triggering the clause if an armed attack has taken place.
In the six months since the Nicosia summit, defence has slipped down the European agenda. The most recent European Council, in Brussels, was devoted largely to the multiannual financial framework for 2028 to 2034, while defence talks centred on Ukraine, which remains outside the bloc. Most leaders want the next framework agreed by the end of this year. Christodoulides said last week that failure to reach an agreement by then would, in his view, send a negative message not only to European citizens but to the world.
Mutual defence was discussed at the European Parliament last month. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas criticised what she called Russia’s hybrid warfare in Europe and called for measures against it. She described President Vladimir Putin as a textbook bully and said Moscow’s hybrid attacks were designed to intimidate, paralyse societies and make Europe hesitate, adding that Europe should match the attacks with concrete action.
Cypriot MEP Costas Mavrides of Diko said hybrid attacks had also been carried out for years by what he called the neo-Ottoman Erdogan regime against member states in the eastern Mediterranean, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He called for Article 42.7 to be made workable and operational and told Kallas that her double-standard policy on Turkey was increasing part of the problem. Fellow Cypriot MEP Geadis Geadi of Elam called for a clear roadmap so the clause could be applied immediately and effectively, and criticised the EU for not treating Turkey and Russia in the same way.