International-News

Article 5 of NATO: armed response is not automatic in the event of an attack

Italian lawyer Marco Valerio Verni clarifies how NATO intervention in the event of an attack on a member country is neither immediate nor mandatory, but subject to specific assessments

NATO’s armed response in the event of an attack against one of its members is not automatic. Explaining this dynamic to Adnkronos is lawyer Marco Valerio Verni, legal expert and legal area contact person for ‘Difesa Online’, on the day that Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte warned Vladimir Putin of the possible devastating consequences of an attack against an Alliance country.

‘It tends to be taken for granted that an attack on a Nato member automatically leads to an armed response from all member countries, but this is not the case,’ Verni explains. In fact, Article 5 of the NATO treaty does not provide for an immediate and compulsory reaction.

The article states that an armed attack against a country in Europe or North America is considered an attack against all members of the Alliance. However, the response is subject to evaluation. Each state can decide what action to take, which may include, but is not obligatory, the use of armed force.

‘The use of force,’ Verni explains, ‘is not automatic nor the only possible measure. The decision depends on a series of actions that must also be agreed with the UN Security Council’.

One of the main concerns today, he continues, are cyber attacks, which can have devastating consequences like conventional attacks and may require a similar response, up to and including the possible use of force in specific circumstances.

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