European Union ramps up crisis testing, convinced that Trump's security priorities lie elsewhere

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is set to ramp up tests on rules that oblige the bloc's 27 member countries to help each other in times of crisis, as the reality sinks in that Washington's commitment to NATO and security in Europe under U.S. President Donald Trump is evaporating.

At a summit in Cyprus starting later Thursday, leaders will work on “an operational plan” to make best use of the EU’s military, security, trade policy and other assets in times of need, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told The Associated Press.

In mid-May, EU envoys will take part in “table-top exercises” to game out how Article 42.7 of the bloc’s treaties could be used to provide collective assistance to a nation in the event of an attack or an invasion by a country like Russia.

EU defense ministers are expected to carry out similar tests a few weeks later. The exercises are focused on political decision-making and don't involve armed forces, government agencies or other assets in the field.

Like NATO's Article 5, but not exactly

Under NATO’s Article 5 security guarantee, an attack on one ally is deemed an attack on them all and one that requires a collective response, often, though not exclusively, by military means.

It’s only ever been activated once, in support of the United States following the Sept. 11 attacks and led to NATO’s failed 18-year security effort in Afghanistan.

The EU’s Article 42.7, which was drafted to avoid conflict with Article 5, has also only been used once, at the request of France following terror attacks in Paris in 2015 that left more than 130 people dead and more than 400 others wounded.

The EU article states that if a nation “is the victim of armed aggression on its territory,” its partners should provide “aid and assistance by all the means in their power.”

It provides that such help should be in accordance with the U.N. charter and not conflict with NATO commitments, and the clause makes allowances for the neutrality of member countries like Austria and Ireland.

When the US is absent

In the case of France, EU nations expressed solidarity and offered support. France appealed to its partners to step up their efforts against international terrorism, which freed up French forces for a major security operation at home.

Similar exercises to test the use of Article 42.7 have been held over the past decade. But growing doubts about the U.S. commitment to NATO and the future EU membership of war-ravaged Ukraine have brought new urgency to the preparations.

Recent reflection about how the Europeans might defend themselves gathered pace after Trump threatened to annex Greenland, which is a semiautonomous part of the kingdom of Denmark, a NATO ally.

Several European countries sent just a few soldiers each to the massive island off the coast of Canada in a highly symbolic display of solidarity with Denmark. Trump railed that he would impose tariffs on countries that took part, but he eventually backed down.

Trump’s decision to launch a war against Iran, alongside Israel, seemed to justify the planning. A revenge attack by Iran in March targeted a U.K. military base on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

Options and issues

Unlike NATO, which is purely a security organization, the EU has many more diverse weapons at its disposal. They range from military might to the use of sanctions, border controls, or trade and visa policies.

The extent to which they and other measures might be used in times of crisis are set to be put to the test again in coming weeks as wars fester in the Middle East, absorbing U.S. attention, and in Ukraine.

“We don’t know what is going to happen if a member state triggers this article,” Christodoulides told the AP. “There are a number of issues.”

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Menelaos Hadjicostis contributed to this report from Nicosia, Cyprus.