Former NATO Sec-Gen Rasmussen says alliance may use EU-Cyprus model for accepting Georgia
NATO former Sec-Gen Anders Fogh Rasmussen believes that Georgia should be accepted into the alliance. Photo: NATO press office.
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Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says that the only way for Georgia to accede into NATO at present is through the use of the EU-Cyprus model.
Cyprus became an EU-member state in 2004 on the condition that the EU law is suspended in areas where the Cypriot government (Government of the Republic) does not exercise effective control.
Georgia meets almost all the criteria for NATO membership. The only obstacle on the way are the occupied regions of Georgia [Abkhazia and Tskhinvali],” Rasmussen told the Georgian Public Broadcaster.
In his letter dedicated to the NATO anniversary last week, Rasmussen said that it was mistake that NATO did not give the Membership Action Plan to Georgia in 2008.
Rasmussen said that NATO member states “should move beyond offering warm words” about the democratic will of the Georgian and Ukrainian people, and acknowledge the disruptive role that “Kremlin paranoia is playing” in the accession process.
NATO Foreign Ministers have agreed on a package of measures to improve the Alliance’s situational awareness in the Black Sea region and strengthen support for its partners – Georgia and Ukraine.
“We have stepped up support for our close partners, Georgia and Ukraine, sovereign nations with the sovereign right to choose their own path”, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated during the joint meeting of the United States Congress in Washington on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani participated in a discussion dedicated to the seventieth anniversary of NATO on the sidelines of the NATO Foreign Ministerial on April 3 in the United States.
This will be a historic visit as the president of Cyprus will come to Georgia for the first time. President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades will visit Georgia on April 16-18.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Secretary General of NATO, says that the current political crisis in Georgia is damaging the West’s view of the country. In an interview with the Georgian office of Voice of America (VOA), Rasmussen said that domestic, foreign and security policies are closely linked to each other, which the Georgian government should take into account and stabilize the political situation in the country.