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At the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, NATO members plan to consider the future security architecture of Europe and Ukraine’s place in it. This was stated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. We can talk about an accelerated procedure for the entry of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO without a membership action plan – following the example of Sweden and Finland, FREEDOM reports.
The invitation to NATO for Sweden and Finland without a Membership Action Plan (MAP) set the precedent for candidate countries to join the bloc on a fast-track basis. This was stated by the former head of the Georgian Mission to NATO Levan Dolidze.
“Of course, it is impossible to deny the context that distinguishes Sweden and Finland from countries that are in the process of integrating into NATO (Georgia, Ukraine…). Brussels has often stressed the absence of a precedent for NATO membership without a MAP. But the invitation of Finland and Sweden leveled this argument. It is important that the NATO Summit in Vilnius send the necessary signal to those countries whose citizens have been consistently supporting the European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations of their states for many years and have paid a high political price for this path,” Levan Dolidze, head of the Georgian Mission to NATO (2013-2015), told the publication .ipg journal.
The issue of MAP in NATO for Georgia and Ukraine is only of political importance, stresses Dolidze. Instead, the Alliance could have come up with a new plan. Among its possible points is a special package to strengthen the defense capability of Ukraine. It is also important to provide Kyiv and Tbilisi with the opportunity to fully participate in the strategic negotiations of the countries of the bloc. According to the NATO Secretary General, at the summit in Vilnius, the North Atlantic Alliance will present a new program of cooperation between Ukraine and the bloc.
“But what we will most likely do is that we agree on at least a program for bringing Ukraine closer to NATO and increasing the interoperability of weapons and systems between Ukraine and NATO,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
The key factor for ending the war could be Kyiv’s invitation to NATO. According to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, Russia must accept Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
“Finland has already become a member of NATO, Sweden is on the way to this. The same should happen for Ukraine. That is, today, just as Ukraine wants to be a member of NATO, so, I believe, NATO needs Ukraine in order to have a new security structure in Europe and in the world. And today this is not only our desire, it is absolutely the reality that the modern world, modern Europe requires. Without Ukraine, there can be no real new security system in Europe,” Andrei Yermak expressed his opinion in an interview with the Russian service of the Voice of America.
As analysts at the Center for European Policy Analysis CEPA write, it is time for NATO to stop procrastinating and accept Ukraine. Experts emphasize that NATO membership is the right course for Ukraine, and it is not at all necessary to wait for Ukraine’s victory. This is the only way to deter Russian aggression and ensure the security of Europe.
