Internet users are fantasizing for no reason: is Ukraine’s path to NATO and the EU really over

News without evidence

A Lithuanian posted a post on his Facebook account about Ukraine’s question of joining the EU and the Alliance, but did not provide any evidence to support this information.

“The issue of Ukraine’s accession to NATO and the European Union is finally closed.

Zelya’s (Volodymyr Zelenskii – ed. post.) fantasies are already buried, but the mass genocide of the Ukrainian population continues, with further funding and weapons provided by Western countries.

The saddest thing is that Lithuania, contributing to the killing of Ukrainian people, will be cursed forever and the surviving Ukrainians will never forgive the Lithuanians,” said the netizen.

Ukraine’s accession to the EU

From 2022 June membership of Ukraine status A candidate country in the Community. in 2024 EU started in June negotiations with Ukraine for membership, but they may take years to complete.

V. Zelenskis expressed his belief that Ukraine will become a full member of the EU.

Candidate countries must harmonize their laws and standards with the EU’s 35 policy areas, from the free movement of goods, fisheries, taxation, energy and the environment to judicial systems and security.

Ukraine aims to join the EU by 2030, but first it has to complete dozens of institutional and legal reforms. This list includes tough anti-corruption measures, as well as wide-ranging reforms of public administration and the judiciary.

European Commissioner Oliveris Varhelyi is responsible for the development statedso that Ukraine could join the EU by 2029 if it completes the necessary reforms.

Ukraine’s accession to NATO

In official NATO on the website it is indicated that Ukraine will join NATO. At the 2008 Bucharest Summit, NATO member states agreed that Ukraine would become a member, noting that its next step would be to apply under the Membership Action Plan (MAP), a NATO program covering political, economic, defense, security and legal reforms. in countries seeking membership.

in 2023 At the summit held in Vilnius, NATO members canceled the requirement for Ukraine to conclude a MAP. This shortened its membership journey from a two-step to a one-step process.

At a summit in Washington this year, the Allies said they would continue to support Ukraine on its irreversible path to NATO membership and reaffirmed that they could invite Ukraine to join the Alliance once the parties agree and the conditions are met.

NATO members have so far pledged to support Kyiv’s irreversible path to membership, but have not issued an actual invitation. NATO has been considering the future of Ukraine for 16 years.

“Victory Plan” item

in 2022 in the wake of a full-scale Russian invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Ukraine to join NATO as soon as possible.

It is one of the most important points in the “victory plan” presented this year pointed out invitation to NATO. According to the president, although the actual membership is still a question of the future, the invitation to join would send a serious signal to V. Putin.

However, the new Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, did not answer during the presentation of the plan whether he would mobilize the allies to support V. Zelensky’s quest to receive an invitation. He said that he could not talk about ongoing discussions with Kyiv and member countries during the press conference.

M. Rutte assured that Russia has no role in deciding whether Ukraine should become a NATO member.

After all, the head of the Alliance refused to endorse a “victory plan” only to indicate that he and his allies would consider it. Mr. Rutte did not discuss when Ukraine could join the world’s largest military alliance, only asserting that it will become a member.

V. Zelenskis, requesting an immediate invitation to NATO, admitted that it will be possible to actually join it only after the end of the war with Russia.

Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier saidthat Ukraine will inevitably become a member, but it will not happen until its war with Russia is over.

The United States and Germany remain concerned about being drawn into a war with Russia. They are at the forefront of countries that oppose Ukraine joining the Alliance while it is involved in a military conflict.

According to Politico sources among US and NATO officials and diplomats, Germany and the US are among the major powers that are slow to address V. Zelensky’s request to immediately invite Ukraine to join NATO.

However, the interviewees emphasized to the publication that neither the USA nor Germany excludes the possibility that Ukraine will eventually join the Alliance. It is true that the position of the USA on this matter may still change when the re-elected Donald Trump takes the presidency.

Allied views differ

Some members of the Alliance does not approve for the accession of Ukraine. Hungary and Slovakia are among the main opponents of this idea, and not only because of the protracted military conflict. Their populist leaders are largely pro-Kremlin.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has blocked EU funding for arming Ukraine and pulled out of a NATO program that sends much-needed aid to Kyiv.

Slovak President Robert Fico earlier warnedthat allowing Ukraine to join NATO “would be a good basis for World War III,” and vowed that he would never support it.

According to Politico, there are other countries that doesn’t try respond quickly to Kyiv’s request, but tend to hide in the shadows.

“Countries like Belgium, Slovenia or Spain are hiding behind the USA and Germany. They don’t want it,” one official told Politico.

According to another source, the allies “support the idea in the abstract, but when it gets closer to implementation” they will begin to publicly oppose it.

Meanwhile, the Baltic countries and Poland are positive about this issue. For example, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Poland is in favor of “opening the NATO perspective” to Ukraine.

The President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda in 2023. urged leaders to react more boldly to Ukraine’s aspiration to become a NATO member. He advised allies to ignore fears that Ukraine’s joining the alliance would provoke Russia.

15min verdict: lie. The issue of Ukraine joining NATO and the EU is far from over. NATO representatives have repeatedly stated that the country’s accession to the Alliance is inevitable. As for the EU, Ukraine is currently granted the status of a candidate country. There is no evidence that these processes have been stopped.

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