Government: Ukraine will soon receive an action plan for NATO membership
Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said that soon Ukraine might receive an answer to the question of joining NATO.
As Rubryka reports, Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna announced this on the air of the 1+1 TV channel.
"I think we will be able to hear the answer to this question very soon. Within this year. Today we're talking about obtaining a membership action plan. Once Ukraine receives a membership action plan, it will be up to us when we join NATO. At the beginning of the broadcast, we said, 'Let's push! We're ready to do everything possible.' If we follow the membership action plan with the same enthusiasm, it can happen much faster than for Northern Macedonia," she said.
"Our membership will be in ten, plus or minus two, years," former Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin added.
Stefanishyna said that NATO demanded reforms from Ukraine. According to her, it's about the reform of defense procurement, internal security services, the State Security Service, reforms related to the rule of law, the security sector, and defense.
"First, it's the reforms and working with capitals. Reforms that we're already implementing. We've already passed several laws, we've made a political decision to start the reform of Ukroboronprom. Today, Ukraine joined NATO defense procurement for the first time. We've received this status. The Ukrainian military has already applied for participation and work in positions in the Allies," Stefanishyna said.
She informed Ukraine was making its contribution to NATO's activities. In the last six months alone, two types of NATO exercises in the Black Sea region have been conducted in Ukraine.
"We've been given the status of an enhanced partner not because we've asked for it, but because Allies have acknowledged that Ukraine is making a contribution by participating in all NATO international operations, and by engaging in defense procurement, and by showing that we're ready to reform inside the country," the deputy prime minister explained.
She stressed the importance of the draft laws passed by the parliament of the last convocation.
"Believe me, this parliament passed the decisions that have been on the shelves for years. This parliament passed the law on the reform of the SBU in the first reading. It's not just about taking away economic powers; it's about creating a full Euro-Atlantic system of internal security inside the country. It is the decisions we're communicating in the capital today and we're talking about with the new American administration," Stefanishyna summed up.
