Ukraine joins NATO: Nine countries support Zelenskyy
Created: 2022-10-02 21:05
By: Lucas Maier
After the annexation by Russia, support for Ukraine joining NATO increased.
But there are many hurdles.
Kyiv – Shortly after Russia attacked neighboring Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled his desire to join NATO.
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 was quoted as saying by the news channel
Euronews
.
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, as the
German Press Agency (dpa)
writes.
Ukraine's NATO accession: a lot of approval, but also opposition.
(Archive image) © Uncredited/dpa
The advocates of accession also refer to this decision.
An associated declaration has now been signed by the following NATO countries:
also read
After bankruptcy in Lyman: "Putin's bloodhound" angry - but experts suspect Putin himself to be behind the withdrawal
Putin's annexation: Zakharova counters criticism of the redrawing of borders - and also attacks Germany
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Czech Republic
North Macedonia
Montenegro
Romania
Slovakia
Joining NATO: Annalena Baerbock is not very optimistic about the attempt to join
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) is less optimistic.
In an
ARD feature
, she said very 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 Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD): "It is very clear - both for the German government and for NATO as a whole: we will not become a war party," the French news
agency AFP
quoted the politician as saying.
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.
The tests in Sweden and Finland show how difficult such a process can be.
With various allegations, the Turkish ruler Erdogan is blocking and impeding the accession efforts of the two northern states.
Only the votes from Hungary and Turkey are missing for their NATO accession, as reported by
AFP
.
(Lucas Maier)
