Sec-Gen Jens Stoltenberg: NATO’s door remains open for Georgia, Ukraine
Jens Stoltenberg has stated that ‘whether a country becomes a member of NATO or not is to be decided by that country and the members of NATO, no one else’. Photo: nato.int
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the College of Europe in Bruges earlier today that ‘NATO’s door remains open’ for Georgia and Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said that he was at the NATO summit in Bucharest back in 2008 when the alliance made a decision that Georgia and Ukraine will become its members but they ‘did not set any fixed date’.
For a country to become member they need to meet the NATO standards and therefore my message to both Ukraine and Georgia - two different countries with different geography and history but both aspiring for NATO membership - is that they have to focus on reform”, Jens Stoltenberg said.
He said this includes to:
- implement reforms
- modernise and strengthen democratic institutions
- fight corruption
A great pleasure to meet students @collegeofeurope. As a committed European, I believe in European integration, and in the cooperation between Europe and North America in #NATO. A strong transatlantic bond is the bedrock of Europe’s security. pic.twitter.com/Eoh7Bv0I0G
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) March 4, 2021
Noting that NATO is helping and supporting these reforms efforts, which are important regardless these countries will become members ‘in the near future or more distant future’, the Secretary General said ‘these reforms are actually helping Georgia and Ukraine’.
We have proven that NATO’s door is open because just since 2014 actually two more members have joined - Montenegro and North Macedonia. So NATO’s door remains open”, he reiterated.
In his speech Stoltenberg also noted that ‘whether a country becomes a member of NATO or not is to be decided by that country and the members of NATO, no one else’.
He said 'sometimes you get the impression that for instance Russia has some kind of veto, has the right to deny a country the right to join NATO', while in reality 'Russia cannot deny a sovereign nation the right to join'.
My message is that actually this is enshrined in many documents including documents that Russia signed that it is an absolute right for every sovereign nation to decide its own path including what kind of security arrangements it wants to be part of or not want to be part of", Jens Stoltenberg concluded.
[LIVE] ???? Watch Secretary General @jensstoltenberg's speech “#NATO: keeping Europe safe in an uncertain world” @collegeofeurope. https://t.co/MnAGKZzP3Q
— Oana Lungescu (@NATOpress) March 4, 2021