Listening to La Marseillaise sung by spectators at Wembley Stadium during the England-France match was a moving experience. The Defence Ministers of the 28 meeting for the first time to unanimously activate Article 42.7 of the Treaty of the EU, appertaining to mutual assistance, was a milestone, although in terms of words rather than deeds. The specific form of assistance will be defined bilaterally, not from an overall EU standpoint. Underlying the apparent unity there still lurk widely differing conceptions of Europe. [...]