The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has announced the conditions for Ukraine to be granted a Membership Action Plan (MAP) in a few years, a Ukrainian legislator stated.
"Ukraine will join NATO. And in the next few years, it may receive a MAP – the Action Plan for Membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. But before that, we need to carry out a number of reforms envisaged by the annual national programs," said Yehor Chernev, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada's Permanent Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
The statement, posted on Facebook, came following the legislator's talks via video conference with NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Joana.
Read alsoLaw on Intelligence required by NATO comes into forceThe reforms Ukraine must implement, Chernev says, in order to obtain the MAP cover political, economic, defense, resource, security and legal areas.
"First of all, it is, of course, the reform of the SBU [the Security Service], the introduction of parliamentary control over the security and defense sector, and a new law on state secrets," Chernev said.
"Of course, for political reasons, our Western partners stop short of explicitly stating that they are preparing to accept Ukraine to NATO. But granting the MAP automatically means that the country becomes a candidate and, after all required reforms have been completed, joins the Alliance," the lawmaker explained.
"Therefore, let's listen less to pro-Russian propagandists and homegrown 'all-is-lost' adepts who claim that no one's waiting for us anywhere, and just work on reforms," the MP wrote. "The fate of our entry into NATO is in our hands only."
Ukraine's course toward NATO membership
- On October 8, President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Ukraine needs a NATO Membership Action Plan.
- On October 31, 2019, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy Bettina Cadenbach said that the Alliance did not want to speculate about the time frame for Ukraine to receive the MAP.
- On October 25, 2019, the then- Vice PM for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Dmytro Kuleba, said that Ukraine's 2008 application for MAP in NATO is still valid, so there is no need to submit another one.
