NATO Allies Do Not Have Consolidated Response to Ukraine Prior to First Day of Summit

NATO Allies still do not have an agreed decision on what the wording of the summit communiqué will be on Ukraine and its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

According to Politico, after lengthy and intensive negotiations on the summit communiqué, there is still no agreed wording on Ukraine. However, one NATO diplomat told reporters that they "have made very good progress" and are "100 per cent optimistic."

The negotiators will meet again on Tuesday, 11 July, in parallel with the summit.

As far as we know, the opponents of more decisive formulations are Germany and the United States.

A top German official said earlier on Monday that "the time is not right at this summit for an invitation to Ukraine, for concrete steps toward membership. There is no consensus on this among the allies either." 

The meeting of the newly created NATO-Ukraine Council is scheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday – at the end of the summit, clearly so that the leaders can agree on their positions by then.

According to media reports, a meeting of the leaders of the United States and Ukraine is also planned for 12 July, although not finally agreed. In his evening address on Monday, Zelenskyy confirmed his participation in the NATO summit in Vilnius.

On Monday 10 July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised to unblock Sweden's admission, while Stockholm will help Ankara in efforts to improve Turkish relations with the EU. This allowed for the deadlock on Sweden's accession to be broken.