NATO Vilnius Summit will move away from Bucharest formulations concerning Ukraine's membership – US ambassador
In the concluding statement of the NATO Summit in Vilnius next week, leaders of NATO member states will try to move away from the formulations of the 2008 Bucharest Summit, a decision Ukraine has long been demanding.
Source: Julianne Smith, US ambassador to NATO, at a briefing for journalists on 7 July, as reported by a European Pravda correspondent
Smith stated that Ukraine can expect "a package of concrete deliverables, both in terms of longer-term practical assistance on things like their military modernization and questions of interoperability" from the NATO summit in Vilnius.
"In the communiqué we will be addressing Ukraine’s membership aspirations, and that is something that NATO Allies continue to work on, but it is not just restating Bucharest - it will look different to what we said in 2008," Smith stressed.
She specified that concrete formulations are being coordinated by the NATO member states and will most likely be revealed at the end of the week. Smith also said the waiving of the mandatory Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Kyiv is being considered.
"And I do think that President Zelenskyy, if he opts to come to the summit, will be well received, will see resounding support for Ukraine’s relationship with the Alliance, and will find himself holding a whole collection of concrete deliverables that signals the longer-term commitment to Ukraine from the NATO Alliance," Smith remarked.
At the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest, Germany and France blocked the granting of a MAP to Ukraine and Georgia, fearing escalation from Russia. Since then, NATO has merely promised both countries that they will join the Alliance "one day".
Now Ukraine says the MAP issue is no longer on the agenda and is expecting a "favourable political decision" on Kyiv’s NATO membership application at the July summit in Vilnius.
You may also be interested in this editorial by European Pravda: An Appeal by Ukrainian Civil Society Organisations to NATO Leaders ahead of Vilnius Summit
Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
