Lithuanian, Polish presidents voice support for greenlighting Ukraine's NATO membership by 2024
Gitanas Nauseda (Photo:пресслужба президента України)
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has said that he hopes Ukraine will receive a green light for NATO membership by the time of the alliance’s next summit in Washington D.C. in 2024, Lithuanian news outlet LRT reported on Sep 14.
"Now we have to make every effort, and I really hope for the cooperation of Poland, so that at the Washington summit we can help take another step forward and give the green light to Ukraine's membership in NATO," Nauseda said while speaking at the Krynica Forum on Security and Economy Forum, held in the eponymous town in Poland
The NATO summit held last July in Vilnius created an algorithm for Ukraine's future accession to the alliance, Nausėda said.
“The prospect of Ukraine’s admission to NATO, based solely on the decisions made by Ukraine and member states, is absolutely realistic,” responded Polish President Andrzej Duda, who was also in attendance, adding that he would raise the issue at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly session in New York on Sept. 18-26.
The most recent NATO summit was held in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 11-12, attended by the leaders of 31 member states, including US President Joe Biden, as well as delegations from Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Ukraine, and Sweden. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended the summit as well.
NATO member states have settled on a unified communique concerning Ukraine’s membership in the Alliance, making no timeframe commitments as to when Kyiv might receive the invitation. The document was published on July 11, as the summit opens.
The communique noted that Ukraine would be invited to join the Alliance once member states agree and all prerequisites have been satisfied, without specifying what those prerequisites are, exactly.
The document underscored NATO's adherence to the commitment made in 2008 that Ukraine will become a NATO member. It also acknowledged that Ukraine's journey towards complete Euro-Atlantic integration no longer necessitates a Membership Action Plan (MAP), effectively signaling that Kyiv will be able to apply for membership via a fast-track procedure.
On July 12, Zelenskyy said he was convinced that Ukraine would receive an invitation to join NATO after the war.
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