The British and French foreign ministers, James Cleverly and Catherine Colonna, showed openness in London on Wednesday to speed up the process of Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
In a press conference during the International Conference on the Recovery of Ukraine (URC 2023), Cleverly praised Ukraine for carrying out institutional and military reforms even during the war.
“I think the UK position will be very, very favorable if we move from the Action Plan to Membership, given that neither Sweden nor Finland have demanded it and the Ukrainians have shown their commitment to the reform of the armed forces necessary for membership. in NATO through their actions on the battlefield,” he said.
The Membership Action Plan (MAP) was launched in 1999 to help countries aspiring to join NATO in their preparations.
At least eleven countries have followed this process since 2004, including Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and the Republic of North Macedonia.
Bosnia-Herzegovina has been complying with this process since 2010. He wisely noted that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and NATO Foreign Ministers previously acknowledged that “many of the requirements of the Plan of Accession Action are being fulfilled and that the reform of its armed forces is taking place during the conflict”.
On the other hand, in statements to journalists on the sidelines of the Conference, the head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, also expressed France’s desire to “go a little further”.
“Obviously, we cannot imagine Ukraine joining NATO now, because it is a war situation,” he added.
Colonna believes it is possible “to go a little further, proposing not only that the NATO-Ukraine Commission be transformed into a Council and sign a more advanced partnership, but also by avoiding the mechanism called the Accession Action Plan.”
Stoltenberg announced last week in Brussels, after a meeting of defense ministers, that a new NATO-Ukraine council is being prepared, where the country will be on an equal footing with the members of the organization.
“Our ambition is to have a first meeting of the new council in Vilnius, with President Zelensky,” he said, at the NATO summit in July.
Source: TSF
