NATO Allies recognize Ukraine as a potential candidate for NATO membership and support Ukrainian efforts to join the Alliance, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
He said this at a press conference following talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Brussels on Tuesday, February 9, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.
“NATO’s door remains open, and we work with countries like Ukraine. Ukraine is recognized as a candidate for NATO membership. NATO allies help and support Ukrainian efforts to join the Alliance. I feel certain that as part of the future project we have launched in NATO, NATO 2030, […] the enlargement policy will be part of that. And also when NATO leaders meet in Brussels later this year, enlargement and NATO’s open door policy will be discussed and addressed,” Stoltenberg said.
He recalled that NATO made a decision about the membership of Ukraine during the 2008 Bucharest Summit and Allies “stand by that decision and all subsequent decisions following that Summit.”
“The focus now should be on the reforms, and I welcome the clear message from the [Ukrainian] Prime Minister on the need to continue to reform, to make sure that we have, or Ukraine has, democratic political control over its defense institutions and armed forces, that continued efforts [are made] to fight corruption and to strengthen democratic institutions of Ukraine. This is good for Ukraine, regardless of NATO. But in addition, the more successful Ukraine is in implementing reforms, the closer Ukraine hopes to meet NATO standards, and the closer you can come to NATO membership,” Stoltenberg said.
He noted that the NATO enlargement policy had been a great success and it had “helped to spread our values throughout Europe – the rule of law, individual freedom, democracy.”
“Since the end of the Cold War until now, we have almost doubled the number of members of NATO. At the beginning of the 1990s, we were 16 members, now we are 30 members and we added two members just over the last few years,” Stoltenberg said.
A Ukrainian government delegation headed by Shmyhal began a working visit to Brussels on February 9. Shmyhal has already met with European Council President Charles Michel and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The program of the visit also includes a series of working meetings with representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament. On February 11, Shmyhal will lead the talks in the format of the EU-Ukraine Association Council.
© 2021 Ukrinform News
He noted that the NATO enlargement policy had been a great success and it had “helped to spread our values throughout Europe – the rule of law, individual freedom, democracy.”
Yeah we saw those values in Montenegro recently. Keep electing shithole countries to NATO, that couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag, yet ignore countries that know how to fight Russians.
That crapulous Marxist turd and his kraut and frog friends will make sure that only pro-putler countries join. Nato is a sack of shit and the few remaining members that actually would fight Russia must form a new bloc. In any case the EU wants its own army, so what’s the point of Nato now?
I think the best thing for security among civilized nations is for NATO to do away with the unanimous rule. It is a Utopian wet dream and Putin only needs to pick off ONE country and NATO is frozen. A 67% majority is enough and the countries that vote against can leave their troops at home if they want. Same goes for Article 5 as far as I’m concerned.
I think Nato is dead on its feet Redders. For once Trump was right, but for the wrong reasons.
Macron is desperate to have an EU army. He knows that France being the most powerful military in the EU now that Britain has left, would give him maximum leverage and the increased power that the little prick wants. This would consolidate the Franco-German axis; with Germany running the EU and France running the EU army.
Even a decrepit old hair-sniffer like Joe might be starting to learn that the EU is still fundamentally hostile to the US even when the Dems are in power. You can never trust France or Germany with anything that requires integrity and backbone.
This is why the Anglophone countries need to build a new alliance consisting of like-minded nations that are willing to fulfil the original Nato brief.
Anglophone sucks. The tribe of the Angles is spread from Scandinavia, Portugal, Brazil, Canada, Auatralia, Ukraine, Estonia to the US of A. I’m in favor of a tribal instead of language based alliance.
I meant to convey by that term exclusively the Five Eyes as the most successful military alliance in history. Hopefully with like minded countries such as Poland, Ukraine, Georgia etc bolted on. Out of the EU there aren’t many, however Portugal recently reconfirmed their commitment to the oldest alliance in Europe: them and Britain, so I’d have them too. They don’t much like their neighbour Spain and always support us when they start bullshitting about Gibraltar, which has legally been sovereign British territory since long before the USA even existed.
I hate Spain. As you know i got partly portuguese roots. I can’t stand that spanish Nazi shithole.