NATO continues to seek understandings on Ukraine's membership

Less than a month before the summit, consensus still seems distant, and no points have been resolved, in a situation that raises fears of failure, especially among Lithuanian leaders, hosts of the meeting.

In Oslo, discussions focus on the security guarantees that NATO can offer Ukraine until membership of the transatlantic bloc becomes a reality.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg played down the fact that no understanding was reached, claiming it was an “informal meeting. There were no decisions, but we had frank exchanges to reach a consensus.”

“We do not know when the war will end, but we must ensure that credible measures are taken to guarantee Ukraine's security in the future,” he added.

“The details of how this will be done and the type of mechanisms will still be the subject of decisions”, he admitted.

NATO's main member, the United States, is currently opposed to the alliance providing such guarantees to Ukraine, a minister, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

At a press conference, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken avoided the topic.

The U.S. priority now is to strengthen Ukraine's capabilities "so that when [Russia's] aggression ends, the Ukrainians have the deterrent capacity, if necessary, to defend themselves," Blinken said.

The American official recalled that NATO has 31 member countries and that decisions are taken unanimously.

Stoltenberg reinforced, in turn, that “the most important thing at this moment is our commitment to helping Ukraine defend itself and recover its territory”.

Recently, NATO offered these guarantees to Sweden, a country that has formally filed for membership but faces a veto from another central player in the alliance, Turkey.

Meanwhile, Ukraine does not bother to hide its enormous expectations.

In Moldova, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky increased the pressure this Thursday, stating that “every doubt we express in Europe is a trench that Russia will try to occupy”.

Also today, Luxembourg's head of diplomacy, Jean Asselborn, noted that “NATO will be 75 years old and a country has never joined in the midst of an armed conflict, because this could lead to resorting to Article V of the treaty.”

If that happens, he added, we will be facing a “war between NATO and Russia.”

Renovation and spending level

The Oslo meeting faces other extremely delicate issues, such as Turkey's veto on Sweden's accession, the possible renewal of Stoltenberg's mandate and the level of military spending.

Appointed Secretary General of NATO in 2014, the 64-year-old Norwegian has already had his mandate renewed three times. His successor must be a European, and several EU countries want a woman to be appointed.

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, who will have the last word, will receive the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, a potential candidate, on June 5th.

Meanwhile, Stoltenberg announced on Thursday that he will visit Turkey “in the near future” to discuss with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the country's veto on Sweden's NATO membership.

“I am confident that Sweden will be a member (of NATO), and we are working to make that happen as quickly as possible,” he said on Thursday.

The difficult issue of military spending is another topic to be discussed in Oslo. For 2024, allies promeThey had to allocate 2% of each country's GDP to defense, but, in Vilnius, the idea is to make this 2% not a maximum, but a minimum floor.

Only seven countries have reached the target, and Denmark is far from fulfilling its part of the collective effort.

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