US President Joe Biden advocated a simplified procedure for Ukraineʼs accession to NATO, i.e. the cancellation of the Membership Action Plan (MAP).
This is reported by the Spanish publication EFE with reference to a high-ranking American official.
The cancellation of the MAP for Ukraine means that the Ukrainian government will not have to fulfill a multi-year program of conditions to demonstrate that the country has completed the necessary reforms in the fields of defense, economy and politics.
The Membership Action Plan (MAP) is a NATO program to which candidate countries are admitted. It was approved in 1999, since then 11 European countries have passed through it. But last year, the Alliance invited Finland and Sweden to NATO without a MAP, so Ukraine also insisted on bypassing this program.
- The day before, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba informed that NATO allies, after negotiations, decided to remove the MAP from Ukraineʼs path to the Alliance.
- CNN previously reported that Biden and his team are having an important conversation with other NATO members about how and when Ukraine can join. On June 16, the CNN channel, citing a source, reported that Biden is not against removing one of the obstacles to Ukraineʼs accession to NATO. For example, he would be ready to abandon the Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Ukraine, which is "a program of consultations, assistance and practical support, taking into account the individual needs of countries wishing to join the Alliance." This is the process that other countries had to go through to join NATO.
- At the same time, Joe Biden said that Ukraine is not ready for NATO membership. The war must end before the Alliance can consider the inclusion of Ukraine in its ranks. At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted that the Alliance will make three key decisions regarding Ukraine at the summit.
- The NATO summit is being held in Vilnius on July 11-12. There, Presidents Biden and Zelensky plan to talk face to face.