July 08, 2024
NATO and the EU Need to Get Real on Ukrainian Membership
At NATO’s landmark 75th anniversary summit in Washington, a key issue on the agenda will be the nature of the alliance’s commitment to Ukraine’s future membership. Following vague language in the Vilnius summit communiqué a year ago — which failed to specify when and under what conditions Ukraine would join NATO — divisions persist among allies about how far to go in making promises to Kyiv. Signs point to a similar outcome this year, with a formal invitation for membership remaining off the table.
The alliance’s lukewarm embrace of Ukraine is a strategic error. Kyiv’s Euro-Atlantic integration — meaning membership in both NATO and the European Union — is essential to the definition of victory in its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion. It is therefore crucial for the West to lay out a clear path for achieving this goal. As the ongoing squabbles over NATO’s position demonstrate, there is a serious lack of clarity about how to align means with the end of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration.
If and when Ukraine no longer wants or is able to continue fighting, it must know that it has a reasonable alternative that would still represent at least a partial victory.
Clarifying Ukraine’s path to joining NATO and the EU must start with the explicit affirmation of a lasting ceasefire as a prerequisite. Both organizations bind their members together with collective defense pledges: the North Atlantic Treaty’s Article 5 and the Lisbon Treaty’s Article 42.7, respectively. Thus, as long as active hostilities continue, admitting Ukraine to either NATO or the EU would likely make the organizations’ other members direct parties to the conflict — certain to be an unacceptable outcome for nearly every NATO or EU country.
Read the full article from Inkstick.
More from CNAS
-
Drones over Poland with Doug Lute and Kurt Volker
Podcast
In the early hours of September 10th, Polish authorities detected 19 Russian drones over Polish airspace. This incident represents a major escalation, with Poland triggering A...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
-
Commentary
Defense / Transatlantic Security
Europe’s Delusions Over What It Means to Deter RussiaToday’s European leaders are in a Singapore trap, crafting a training mission designed to signal resolve rather than achieve an actual military objective....
By Franz-Stefan Gady
-
Melting Arctic Ice is a National Security Threat
Commentary
China’s footprint in the Arctic is already growing, and the development of civil-military capabilities in some of its established polar research stations could provide the fou...
By Kate Johnston & Maeve Drury
-
The Wrong Way to Do Diplomacy With Russia
Commentary
In fact, the summit helped Putin legitimize Moscow’s grievances, giving Russians who might doubt the wisdom of the invasion reason believe that it was, as Putin promised, just...
By Celeste Wallander
