Alliance case

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The case of alliance (lat. casus foederis – casus: the case, foedus: the alliance) is in diplomatic language a situation in which an obligation entered into by a state on the basis of a military assistance treaty becomes effective to enter into a war waged by the respective ally or to start a war for the protection of that ally. Such a possibility of collective defence is explicitly provided for in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations until the UN Security Council takes appropriate measures.

Legal basis in Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (GG) provides for the option of surrendering sovereign rights to intergovernmental institutions: According to the GG, the Federation can classify itself as a system of mutual collective security in order to maintain peace and thereby agree to the restrictions of its sovereign rights in order to establish and secure a peaceful and lasting order in Europe and between the peoples of the world. Germany has done this within the framework of NATO and the European Union.

In the so-called “Alliance case” under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty or Article 42 of the EU Treaty, the Bundeswehr can therefore be used for alliance defence. In addition, Germany and France also reaffirmed their mutual military assistance obligation in Article 4 of the Aachen Treaty. The finding of the alliance case, however, does not trigger any automatism: Only the Bundestag decides on the use of German soldiers as a parliamentary army outside the German borders.

Case of alliance on the basis of the North Atlantic Treaty
In the North Atlantic Treaty, the Treaty on NATO, Article 5 refers to the case of an alliance as an armed attack in response to the joint exercise of the right of self-defence recognised in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations. The treaty was developed with the assumption of a possible attack by the Soviet Union on Western Europe; The fall of the alliance did not occur in times of the Cold War. For the first and so far only time, the existence of the covenant case on the 12. In the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Active Endeavour were adopted. Formal provisions on the abolition of the Covenant do not exist.

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states:

Obligation to provide assistance under the EU Treaty
Article 42(7) of the EU Treaty provides:

Terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001
For the first and only time, the Alliance case was declared by the NATO Council on September 12, 2001, in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, with the caveat: “if the terrorist attacks were directed from outside against the United States.” The Alliance case was only decided by the NATO Council on 2 October. Previously, the US-Re