Together with presidents of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, the Baltic States Estonia and Lithuania and two Balkan states already members of the organisation (Northern Macedonia and Montenegro), the Presidency of Romania reiterated support for the decision of the NATO Summit in Bucharest in 2008 regarding the future accession of Ukraine, News.ro reported.

Following the annexation by Russia of 15% of its territory, Ukraine asked on September 30 for fast-track NATO membership.

Membership in the alliance requires the unanimous support of all its 30 members, and there is no fast-track procedure. Furthermore, the statement of the nine member countries, including Romania, does not mention specific fast-track procedures, but only the decision of the NATO Summit in Bucharest in 2008 - when both Ukraine and Georgia were mentioned as future NATO members.

“We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO. Both nations have made valuable contributions to Alliance operations,” the statement reads.

Several months later, Russia invaded Georgia, and a fifth of the country’s territory was occupied. Six years later, Russia occupied Crimea.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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