Finnish Defence Minister, Antti Kaikkonen, said on Thursday 29 August that Article 42(7) of the Treaty on European Union on the mutual defence clause should apply to hybrid threats.
“My opinion is that Article 42(7) can cover hybrid threats”, he explained at the end of the lunch between European Foreign and Defence Ministers during which they discussed, among other things, how to invoke this article in the event of a hybrid attack and the mutual assistance that can be put in place between Member States in the event of such an attack.
Mr Kaikkonen said that discussions between Member States on this subject should continue, recalling that a working party on hybrid threats had been set up in the EU Council. For her part, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, considered that the provisions of this article in the Treaty were “relatively flexible”.
According to a European source, conclusions on hybrid threats could be adopted at the December General Affairs Council. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)