Italian PM proposes extending NATO’s Article 5 to Ukraine without full membership
Pravda Ukraine
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has proposed extending the application of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty to Ukraine without its official accession to NATO. She believes this would provide long-term and effective security for Ukraine.
Source: Meloni’s statement; Financial Times
Details: Meloni said granting Ukraine NATO collective security guarantees without formal membership would be more effective than other options, including the deployment of peacekeeping forces to monitor a ceasefire.
Quote: “Extending the same coverage that Nato countries have to Ukraine would certainly be much more effective, while being something different from Nato’s membership. I think that would be a stable, lasting, effective security guarantee, more than some of the proposals I’m seeing.”
Details: When asked about the difference between Meloni’s proposal and granting Ukraine full NATO membership, she said that this step would ensure that the mutual defence provision would apply “also in defence of Ukraine… even on territory outside Nato, regardless of Kyiv’s membership”.
Meloni stated that sending undefined military contingents, whether British or from any other country, is the most complicated and possibly the least effective solution. She added that she had repeatedly expressed this view and had also ruled out the possibility of deploying Italian troops in this context.
Background:
- At the end of February, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated that Ukraine’s most effective security guarantee is its membership in NATO.
- US President Donald Trump said on 26 February that as part of a future agreement to end the war in Ukraine, he excludes the possibility of Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. Trump also said that the reason for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was supposedly the Alliance, more specifically – the promise that Ukraine would eventually become its member.
- Earlier, the US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also excluded Ukraine’s NATO accession as part of a “negotiated settlement” of the war.
- Ukraine, meanwhile, continues to insist that it has not changed its position regarding membership of the North Atlantic Alliance.
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