Ukraine must ‘meet the same standards’ to join NATO, Biden says
Haisten Willis
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Ukraine will not get a fast track to join NATO, President Joe Biden said late Saturday.
Speaking after a campaign rally with union boosters, Biden was asked by reporters if he’d make it easy for Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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“No,” Biden said. “Because they’ve got to meet the same standards. So we’re not going to make it easy.”
The president said Ukraine has the “ability to coordinate military” as it defends itself from the Russian invasion, but the country must “meet all the standards” to fully join NATO.
The Russian invasion in February 2022 galvanized NATO, which consists of the United States, Canada, and a host of European countries, with several countries committing to increased military spending. Finland joined the alliance, and Sweden is in the process of applying.
But while some reports claimed that Biden was looking at waiving the requirement for Ukraine to have a Membership Action Plan to join NATO, the president said that was not the case.
Leaders from roughly 50 nations met in Brussels at this month’s gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, where they discuss Kyiv’s most pressing needs, and are providing new aid packages to Ukraine following a meeting of defense leaders on Friday.
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Still, full NATO membership remains a pressing question for Ukraine.
“I think they’ve done everything relating to demonstrating the ability to coordinate militarily, but there’s a whole issue of: Is their system secure? Is it non-corrupt? Does it meet all the standards every other nation in NATO does?” Biden said. “I think they will. I think they can. But it’s not automatic.”