U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker suggested playing down NATO's Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Ukraine and Georgia while beefing up assistance to the two countries in their way to NATO membership.
Volker indicated that the allies are unlikely to reach agreement on granting MAP to the two countries at a foreign ministers' meeting next week.
"The problem that we have is that ... the Membership Action Plan, is now something that has become so politicized that we can't agree to use it. So we've got to find a way forward where we actually are able to work with these countries and help them through this reform process that is necessary and will take some time to come," Volker said in a video message.
"So what we've proposed is to put aside this debate of those countries that favor MAP and those countries that oppose the MAP, put that to one side and focus on moving ahead with the reforms that are necessary. That's the way we'd like to do this."
U.S. President George W. Bush failed to win unanimous support of the other allies for MAP for Ukraine and Georgia at the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, in April. European allies, such as France and Germany, feared that MAP for the two former Soviet republics will further enrage Russia, which was already angered by U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.
As a compromise, the leaders agreed at the summit that the two countries will ultimately become NATO members. The leaders also commanded their foreign ministers to assess the issue in their December meeting. However, the Georgia-Russia military conflict in August has made MAP for Georgia a more complicated issue.
Volker argued on Friday that the allies should focus on what has already been agreed on and offer substantive help in their reforms, which are required by NATO membership.
"If we do that, I think we can de-escalate the issue, we can avoid a confrontation and just get the work done that needs to be done," he said. The problem is that if we don't do that, then we're going to face a crisis within NATO every time we meet. Is it MAP? Is it not MAP? What do we do?"
He added that the debate on MAP creates a potential crisis with Russia every time NATO meets. "We ought to de-escalate the situation, just do the business that's necessary now, help these countries reform, keeping an eye focused on the fact that eventually they will become members of NATO," he said.
Currently, MAP is a stage aspirant countries must go through before they are invited to join the alliance.
Source: Xinhua
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