NATO Membership for Georgia Is Now a Matter of When, not Whether
”Most of the countries around the table would have been willing to extend MAP to Ukraine and Georgia today, but there were countries that had concerns. And we did, indeed, agree that we would take up this decision again, this question again in December with the foreign ministers having the authority to make decisions about MAP for Ukraine and Georgia. But I would call your attention to the extraordinary language in this statement because if there was an open door, I think there is a now wide open door, and a couple of questions have been laid to rest: the question of whether or not NATO would ever consider Ukraine off limits, or whether NATO would consider it appropriate to have a member in the Caucasus; that question has been answered with the language that NATO welcomes Ukraine's and Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO. And so those questions are now off the table, and it is a matter of when, not whether” – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the Press Briefing in Bucharest on April 3, 2008.
more:
Full text of Press Briefing by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080403-6.html
Full text of Bucharest Summit Declaration available at: http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2008/p08-049e.html |
