Yesterday at 18:58
At the summer summit of the North Atlantic Alliance in Vilnius, a new format may be established – the Ukraine-NATO Council. A decision may also be made on the accession of the Ukrainian state to this organization in the near future. Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, said this live on the FREEDOM TV channel.
Speaking about what the creation of the Ukraine-NATO Council will mean for Kyiv, he noted that this is precisely one of the mechanisms that brings Ukraine closer to joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“This is a very important step. And I consider this in the context of the approach of the Vilnius NATO summit. We count on the fact that a very important event will take place – a principled decision will be made that Ukraine will become a full member of NATO in the near future,” said the People’s Deputy.
He reminded that the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council is currently active. There is also the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. These are parliamentary mechanisms of interaction.
“As for the Ukraine-NATO Council, this is precisely what allows countries to directly resolve issues related to the preparation for Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance. In other words, this is, let’s say, the platform where there is direct communication between representatives of Ukraine, on the one hand, and NATO, on the other hand,” Merezhko explained.
As for whether any of the member countries of the bloc can prevent the creation of such a council, for example, Hungary, the deputy believes that it is possible. But decisions in NATO are made by consensus.
“Hungary is trying to block important decisions for Ukraine related to European Union sanctions, while NATO decisions are made by consensus. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that no state is against the adopted decisions. Unfortunately, Hungary may take an unconstructive position. We understand this very well. But at the same time, as experience shows, in the end Hungary is forced to join the joint decision under the pressure of the majority of NATO member states. That is, she tries to negotiate some preferences for herself, but in the end she is forced to agree with the common opinion. And I think it will be the same this time as well,” Merezhko summed up.
