Chairmen of Foreign Affairs Committees in a joint statement: Ukraine’s NATO membership would strengthen the Alliance

The Chairmen emphasised the importance of fully implementing the decisions made in Bucharest on Ukraine’s future accession to the Alliance, and of permanently eradicating grey security areas in Europe, as well as the current uncertainty surrounding Ukraine’s NATO membership.

“We draw attention to the fact that Ukraine’s membership in NATO would consolidate sustainable peace not only in Ukraine but also in Europe as a whole, demonstrating that Russia has no veto power over NATO’s enlargement, that Ukraine is free to choose which security and defence organizations to align with, and that Ukraine is not in Russia’s sphere of influence,” they stated and added that Ukraine’s victory over Russia’s aggression and Ukraine’s membership in NATO would help to maintain the rules-based international order.

The Chairmen noted that the Euro-Atlantic values that unite NATO member countries were currently being defended and protected, first and foremost, by the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to the aggressor. They called Ukraine a security provider in the current situation and stressed that Ukraine’s membership in NATO would significantly strengthen the Alliance. Ukraine’s membership in NATO would also be far more effective and less costly than the current defence assistance currently provided to Ukraine.

“Therefore, we call NATO and its Heads of States and Governments to make the NATO Vilnius Summit to create a clear path for Ukraine accession to NATO and give clear and strong security guarantees for Ukraine. We are confident that Ukraine’s NATO membership would greatly contribute to the Alliance’s security and would help the Russian society to finally get rid of the imperial dreams, which Putin is using to consolidate his regime,” declared the Chairmen, also calling for an increasingly deeper integration of Ukraine into NATO’s structures and processes prior to Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

The joint statement was made before the meeting of Speakers of parliaments of NATO member countries and was signed by the heads of Foreign Affairs Committees from the parliaments of Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States. The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu Marko Mihkelson signed the statement on behalf of Estonia.

Text of the Statement in Estonian and in English

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
karin.kangro@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: Chairmen of Foreign Affairs Committees in a joint statement: Ukraine’s NATO membership would strengthen the Alliance

Source: Parliament of Estonia