On Tuesday 11 June, Polish President Andrzej Duda called for Ukraine to be officially invited to join NATO at the Washington summit in July.
Following a summit of the B9 countries in Riga, he gave his support to the opening of the accession negotiation process, saying that Ukraine should be “officially invited to initiate the [accession] process”. He added that Ukraine would not become a member before the end of the war, but that this would demonstrate that the Ukrainians’ aspiration to belong to NATO would be “listened to, understood and implemented”.
The statement by the B9 presidents - Poland, Lithuania and Romania - is more vague. Such an invitation requires the unanimous support of the Allies, which is not guaranteed in Washington. “We stay firmly committed to the irreversible path set out by the historic decisions made at the NATO summits from Bucharest to Vilnius, firmly anchoring Ukraine’s future membership in NATO, and will continue advancing it further”, the statement says. The text adds that the presidents hope that the decisions of the Washington summit “will build a tangible bridge for its NATO membership”.
Poland also wants to review relations with Russia. Mr Duda believes that NATO must denounce the founding act on relations between the Alliance and Russia. “As far as we’re concerned, it stopped being valid a long time ago. Russia has violated it on several occasions”, he explained, adding that it was therefore Russia that had put an end to it.
In their statement, the B9 presidents also welcomed the substantial progress made by the Allies in defence investment and their commitment to invest “at least 2% of GDP and beyond” in defence each year. “Increased defence spending and investments are required”, they explained. Mr Duda believes that the Allies should spend 3% of their GDP on defence, as was the case during the Cold War. “In the future, 3% will be a sufficient level to maintain a real guarantee of security”, he explained.
See the B9 statement: https://aeur.eu/f/clw (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)