France, Germany split over Ukraine’s appeal to join NATO

France is pushing for a concrete path for Ukraine to join the NATO military alliance, but Germany is urging more caution about discussing membership in light of Russia’s ongoing war, Bloomberg reports.

France’s wish “is that we clearly design a path with stages and progressions so that Ukraine can, when the time comes, join us in good security conditions,” Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said in an interview on the sidelines of a gathering of NATO counterparts in Oslo. “Will there be dates or a calendar, I’m not sure because there are still many points to discuss.”

While Ukraine joining NATO is “not something for today,” Colonna said, “we need to do more than 2008,” referring to an agreement that year by allies that Ukraine would eventually join. 

By contrast, Germany’s Annalena Baerbock told reporters “it’s clear that we cannot talk about a new membership in the middle of a war”.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is contending with how to deepen ties with Kyiv without immediately bringing Ukraine into the fold as a member, given that the bloc’s Article 5 security guarantees could draw allies into Russia’s war against the country. 

The top envoys are addressing the question of membership at their two-day meeting in Oslo, which started on May 31, in advance of a NATO summit in July when leaders will sign off on a broader package of long-term support for Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for clear signals in support of his country’s membership at the July summit, urging allies to provide a more concrete perspective beyond the 2008 statement. But opinions differ about how specific allies should be.

“Security guarantees are very important not only for Ukraine but also for our neighbour Moldova because of the Russian aggression in Ukraine and potential aggression in other parts of Europe,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Moldova on Thursday, at the start of a European Political Community meeting.