Greece has named a condition for the EU to refer to the Lisbon Treaty.

The European Union may resort to the Lisbon Treaty if US President-elect Donald Trump withdraws the United States from NATO,  Stavros Kalenteridis, a professor at the Aegean College in Athens said.

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“This scenario will become relevant if Donald Trump carries out his past threats against NATO. He has previously stated that the United States may deny protection to those NATO members that do not meet minimum defense spending requirements,” Kalenteridis said, emphasizing that such the turn of events will weaken NATO and give the EU the opportunity to invoke Article 42.7 of the Lisbon Treaty, which contains a solidarity clause.

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According to the professor, the current situation could open the door for France to leadership in this area – “this state has historically strived for an independent military course and sometimes deviated from the NATO course.” Thus, the future president of France, guided by the ideas of the country’s independence, will be able to gradually sever ties with NATO, the expert believes. In the long term, this could also benefit Russia, Kalenteridis concluded.

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In the past, French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed skepticism towards NATO, arguing that the organization has completely lost coordination within the alliance and it can be described as “brain death.”