EU agrees to French request for military help

By Jacopo Barigazzi

Countries unanimously support move to provide aid and assistance in fight against ISIL.

EU countries agreed Tuesday to offer military assistance to France in its effort to respond with force to last Friday’s terrorist attacks.
The unanimous decision by European defense ministers invokes a never-before-used EU treaty provision that offers “aid and assistance” in the event of “armed aggression” on a member country.

French President François Hollande requested the show of solidarity and assistance in a speech Monday to joint session of parliament, saying that France was “at war” and that it would “destroy” ISIL, which has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The EU “expressed its strongest full support and readiness“ to provide all the assistance required, said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in a joint press conference with French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who spent Tuesday morning briefing his EU counterparts on France’s military operations.
According to a source in the meeting, Le Drian explained that the French had asked to invoke the obscure EU provision instead of NATO’s Article 5 because some of the less hawkish members of Hollande’s cabinet did not want to put pressure on the U.S., and also did not want to further destabilize the Middle East with a NATO intervention.
Mogherini said several countries “have already announced offers or support through material assistance as well as to enhance support in other theaters” to free up additional French capacity.
She added that Paris “will be in contact bilaterally with member states in the coming hours and days to specify the support it requires.”
Le Drian stressed that France has got “unanimous support” which will enable Paris to have all the necessary bilateral help from other countries.
“It is a political act first of all,” he said.
EU countries could then contribute by providing support or staff to French operations in Sahel, Central African Republic — thereby allowing Paris to free up capacity to use internally, an EU official explained.
Another reason France invoked the EU treaty provision, known as Article 42.7, was that it can be implemented quickly. Putting it into action “does not require any formal decision or Council conclusions to be taken so we need no further formality,” Mogherini said.
According to one source in the ministerial meeting, the explanation was needed. “Some of us had never heard of Article 42,” the source said.
Before the beginning of the meeting on Tuesday, EU defense ministers were already talking about intelligence gathering as first form of support for France.
“I do not expect any contribution as far as troops are concerned for France because is a big powerful country and it has its own capacities,” said Czech Foreign Minister Martin Stropnický.
France also plans to ask EU countries to step up background check controls at the bloc’s external borders, two EU sources said. The request will come at an emergency meeting of justice and interior ministers on Friday.
Currently at border controls authorities can verify only whether passports are valid but have no access to police databases to check criminal records, an EU diplomat explained.
The Friday meeting could look at other migration-related issues, but will not deal with the controversial subject of refugee relocation, as countries want to show unity after the Paris attacks, the official said.
But because the theme of identifying those who cross EU external borders will be discussed, the issue of hotspots, where refugees are processed after they enter the EU, is likely to be on the table, the diplomat added.
“We still have to see what exactly France will ask for,” Sandro Gozi, the Italian Europe minister, told journalists. But “this is a request France has made in the past, for them is part of the implementation of the road map agreed after the attacks at Charlie Hebdo that has been implemented only in part.”