After the annexation by Russia, support for Ukraine joining NATO increased. But there are many hurdles.
Kyiv – Shortly after the attack by Russia to the neighboring country of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyj the desire to join the Nato signaled. The annexation of four Ukrainian regions, which violates international law, now seems to be gaining momentum.
As a result of the annexation by Russia, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg again signaled the alliance’s “open door” to Ukraine. “Every democracy in Europe has the right to apply for NATO membership,” Stoltenberg told the news channel euronews quoted. But it is not that simple.
Joining NATO at War? Ukraine already sees itself as part of an alliance
“In fact, we have already become a NATO ally. We trust each other, we help each other and we protect each other. This is the alliance,” with these words the President of Ukraine announced the country’s attempt to join NATO on September 30. Kyiv wants to become part of the military alliance in a fast-track procedure.
- Current members of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO)
- Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany,
- Estonia, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy,
- Canada, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
- Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland,
- Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
- Czech Republic, Turkey, Hungary, United Kingdom and United States of America
- Source: Federal Foreign Office
From the President’s point of view, accession would only be a formal consolidation of a de facto current state, as he announced in a video message on Friday (September 30). In order to become part of the military alliance, however, a unanimous decision by the 30 member states is required. Stoltenberg recently emphasized this in an interview with the TV channel NBC.
Ukraine war: Nine countries back Ukraine’s NATO bid
So far, nine NATO countries have clearly backed Ukraine’s application for membership. At a NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008, Ukraine was given the prospect of joining, like the German Press Agency (dpa) writes.
The advocates of accession also refer to this decision. An associated declaration has now been signed by the following NATO countries:
- Estonia
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Poland
- Czech Republic
- North Macedonia
- Montenegro
- Romania
- Slovakia
Joining NATO: Annalena Baerbock is not very optimistic about the attempt to join
The German Foreign Minister is less optimistic Annalena Bärbock (Green). in one ARD focal point she said quite clearly that the chances of Ukraine joining NATO quickly were slim.
One wants to prevent the conflict from spreading to other countries, and NATO does not want to become part of the war, the front woman of the Green Party justified her assessment. Similar words recently came from the Federal Defense Minister Christina Lambrecht (SPD): “It is very clear – both for the German federal government and for the entire NATO: We will not become a war party,” quotes the French news agency AFP the politician.
War in Ukraine: One veto is enough – The difficulty of joining NATO
It remains to be seen what will happen in the end with Ukraine’s attempts to join. It shows up in the experiments of Sweden and Finland how difficult such a process can be. The Turkish ruler blocked and made it more difficult with various allegations Erdogan the accession efforts of the two northern states. For their NATO accession, only the votes from Hungary and Turkey missing, like AFP communicates. (Lucas Maier)
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