June 7, 2021
Kyiv Post
With the NATO Summit in Brussels approaching on June 14, 2021, it’s a good time to look back at the declaration involving the April 3, 2008 summit in Bucharest, Romania.
The declaration clearly states: “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO. Both nations have made valuable contributions to Alliance operations. We welcome the democratic reforms in Ukraine and Georgia and look forward to free and fair parliamentary elections in Georgia in May. MAP is the next step for Ukraine and Georgia on their direct way to membership. Today we make clear that we support these countries’ applications for MAP. Therefore, we will now begin a period of intensive engagement with both at a high political level to address the questions still outstanding pertaining to their MAP applications. We have asked Foreign Ministers to make a first assessment of progress at their December 2008 meeting. Foreign Ministers have the authority to decide on the MAP applications of Ukraine and Georgia.”
And today Ukraine is not invited to this year’s summit, has no Membership Action Plan, and joining the alliance is not in the foreseeable future.
So much for NATO’s promises. A fateful mistake, indeed!