Vilnius (EFE) its first forum on an equal footing with the presence of its president, Volodímir Zelenski.
“The challenges we face are global and our security is interconnected. What happens in the Euro-Atlantic region is important to the Indo-Pacific. What happens in the Indo-Pacific is important for the Euro-Atlantic”, said the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, at the beginning of the first working session of the day.
This first appointment brings together the 31 leaders allied with those of Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, as well as the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council.
Stoltenberg added that the war in Ukraine has “global ramifications,” while terrorist and cyber threats know no borders and authoritarian regimes are closing in on each other.
“So we must be together by the rules based on the national order,” he concluded.
Next, Stoltenberg will meet with Zelenski and the first NATO-Ukraine Council will take place, the new forum promoted at this summit to improve political relations between the two parties.
On the first day of the summit, NATO approved a declaration in which they recognized that Ukraine will enter the Alliance but only when it meets the “conditions” for it.
The lack of a clear timetable for accession was described as “absurd” by the Ukrainian president.
In any case, allied leaders also backed simplifying Ukraine’s accession process by removing the so-called “accession action plan” (MAP) requirement.
That means the Ukrainian government would not have to participate in a multi-year program to demonstrate that it has carried out the military, economic and political reforms necessary for its membership.
In addition, they approved a multi-year support package for kyiv to transition its military equipment from the Soviet era to the modern ones used by the allies, in order to ensure more interoperability with NATO.
Von der Leyen sees reforms in Ukraine as “essential” to access the EU and NATO
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, affirmed that it is “essential” that Ukraine carry out reforms to strengthen its institutions and fight corruption if it wants to join the European Union and NATO.
“We have an important contribution to make to Ukraine’s desire not only to become a member of the European Union, but also to join NATO. Indispensable for this: reforms, strengthening of institutions and the fight, for example, against corruption, ”von der Leyen declared before the press upon his arrival on the second day of the summit of leaders of the Atlantic Alliance.
German policy assured that the European Commission is “working intensively” together with Ukraine so that it can carry out these reforms.
“It’s amazing to see the speed at which Ukraine is reforming despite this war,” he said.
For Von der Leyen, Ukraine’s progress on its path to the EU is “impressive”, and he highlighted “the enthusiasm and intensity” with which it is reforming.
In Von der Leyen’s opinion, it is “clear” that the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine “changes the face of Europe forever”, with the accession of Finland and soon Sweden to the Alliance.
He assured that today he will send a clear message that “the European Union supports Ukraine”, as it has been doing since the beginning of the conflict.
The EU has mobilized 70 billion euros for Ukraine, has given refuge to 4 million Ukrainians and “has delivered military equipment in an unprecedented way in an active war zone,” he said.
Germany warns that the conditions for Ukraine’s entry “are to be met”
The German Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, expressed his support for the conditions proposed to Ukraine for a future incorporation of the country into NATO, in the face of the disappointment caused in Kiev, and recalled that these must be “fulfilled” for that entry to take place. .
“We all agree that Ukraine’s future is in NATO, as soon as the war is over,” the minister told German media from Vilnius, where the Alliance summit is being held and where the president’s intervention is expected today. Ukrainian, Volodimir Zelensky.