Sébastien Le Belzic / Photo credit: JIM WATSON / POOL / AFP
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9:03 a.m., July 10, 2023
The question of Ukraine’s membership in NATO divides the members of the Atlantic alliance. For the moment, Joe Biden, who has been visiting Europe since Sunday evening, refuses this idea. If the United States is ready to continue to help kyiv militarily, it is out of the question for them to integrate it. Will the Allies manage to come to an agreement?
On the eve of the NATO summit, the question of Ukraine’s membership of the Atlantic Alliance divides the Allies. “She’s not ready to be a part of it,” Joe Biden told CNN news channel. The American president has already had a foothold in Europe since Sunday evening. He arrived in London for a whirlwind visit and two talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and then King Charles III. A short stopover before the NATO summit in Vilnius. Not sure President Joe Biden will change his mind about Ukraine in the meantime. Help him militarily, yes, integrate him no.
Green light for Ukraine’s NATO membership in July 2024?
Beyond the military aid provided to kyiv and in particular the delivery of fragmentation bombs and long-range American missiles, Joe Biden will have to validate the process of Ukraine’s accession to NATO. Last month, the American president had ruled out any preferential treatment. Nor had he given a timetable.
But in Vilnius this week, he could give new impetus to this procedure. About twenty NATO countries, including France, are already ready to vote in favor of Ukraine’s membership, provided, however, that the White House gives its imprimatur. A voice that weighs since the United States finances two-thirds of the Alliance’s budget.
But in Joe Biden’s entourage, some are pleading for a green light only next year, at another NATO summit to be held in July in Washington. We will then be four months away from the American presidential election for which Joe Biden is a candidate.