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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelinskiy and Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. / bne IntelliNews
No concrete timeline for Ukraine’s Nato membership given at Vilnius summit
Ben Aris in Berlin
Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg introduced what
he called a “strong package” for Ukraine’s ambition to join Nato, but one that fell short of providing a concrete timeframe or action plan for Ukraine to join the military alliance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was clearly disappointed with the result and lashed out at the decision while Stoltenberg was speaking at a press conference, tweeting that it would be “absurd if a time frame is not set for either invitation for membership or actual membership today”.
Nato members came up with a vague statement that was little different from
www.bne.eu
the Bucharest memorandum invitation in 2008 that promised Ukraine “eventual” membership without giving any concrete timeline.
According to reports, the Nato members could not agree on a position. Northern European members of Nato were almost universal supporters of Ukraine’s rapid membership, whereas other members in the heart of Europe, like Germany,
are not willing to address Ukraine’s membership issue until after the war is over.
The upshot was the Nato bigwigs' statement said that “Ukraine will become a Nato member but when allies agree and conditions permit”. No details of what those conditions are and what Ukraine needs to do to satisfy the Nato members were given.
“Zelenskiy tweeted that it would be “absurd if a time frame is not set for either invitation for membership or actual membership today”