Collective self-defence after the Paris terrorist attacks

: whta's in for the union?

Abstract

This paper focuses on the right to Collective Self-Defence invoked by the French President soon after the Paris terrorist attacks. It is its purpose to enlighten the possible reactions available to France and to the European Union as a whole and most specifically to understand why the French President invoked, for the very first time, article 42.7 of the Treaty on European Union. To fulfil such goal, the presentation will be divided into three main chapters. The first includes factual guidelines of the events that boosted a strong French response. The second explains the United Nations regime on the use of force for collective self-defence, crucial and unavoidable because of its primacy position. And the last chapter analyses both NATO and EU regimes simultaneously available, deals directly with the mutual defence clause (article 42.7 TEU) and with the international States solidary reactions that followed. Owing to the intergovernmental nature of article 42.7, the official positions are not easy to access.

Date of Award	18 Feb 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Isabel Tavares (Supervisor)