EU ambassadors on Monday took part in a bureaucratic tabletop exercise aimed at testing the scope and applicability of Article 42.7, the EU’s mutual assistance clause – their first such meeting since 2022.

One senior EU diplomat told Euractiv after the exercise that it had focused more “on the practicalities” of triggering the article. PSC ambassadors answered questions “based on a hybrid scenario, which is one of the situations where we really need to know what the available tools are,” the diplomat added.

The EEAS has been preparing the exercise for weeks, Euractiv first reported, to inform a future handbook on Article 42.7.

Ambassadors were presented with two fictional scenarios, a second EU diplomat said, notably to tease the role of the EEAS. But most capitals said that the EU’s diplomatic wing should only have a facilitating role, the source added.

The aim was to discuss what member states view as the threshold for triggering the mechanism – such as an attack on critical infrastructure – what the available tools are to support capitals, and bottlenecks that could arise.

This technical exercise did not, however, factor in the possible role of NATO. The EU’s external service first wants to make clear what EU tools would be available in case of crisis, before dwelling on scenarios that would also involve the alliance.

The test came only days after the US took the EU by ‘surprise’, according to top diplomat Kaja Kallas, by announcing it will withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany.

Some countries have voiced concerns that openly talking about the EU’s mutual assistance clause could further trigger the US president to think he could reduce his commitment to NATO.

“We’re not building another NATO,” the first source said, adding the transatlantic alliance remained the “cornerstone of collective defence.”

Kallas is set to meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday to touch upon the exercise.

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