Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said a decision on Ukraine's accession to NATO will be made at a referendum.
“The decision on accession to NATO lies solely in the competence of the people of Ukraine […] We have made the criteria according to which Ukraine will meet NATO requirements. The people of Ukraine will only be able to decide whether to enter NATO or not at a referendum after they are achieved,” Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite in Kyiv on Monday, Nov. 24.
Poroshenko said the Ukrainian administration has developed at least a six-year plan aimed at ensuring that Ukraine meets EU and NATO criteria.
Poroshenko said the requirements for reforms to be conducted in a country seeking EU membership largely overlap the criteria on a country seeking NATO membership.
Grybauskaite, for her part, told a briefing that NATO is not only a military organization and that its members have gone the way to democracy and human rights protection and Ukraine needs to undergo this deep process of reforms to become a NATO member.
“This applies to your membership of the EU and your membership of NATO. You need to show action and do a lot of work inside the country. A country that makes efforts and conducts the needed reform will be able to become a NATO member. No country can stop a membership claim and tell you which direction to choose, especially not your neighbors,” she said.
According to a decision made in Bucharest in 2008, Ukraine will become a NATO member if it wants to and if it meets the necessary criteria.
According to polls conducted in early November 2014, the percentage of supporters of Ukraine’s accession to the EU has increased to 64 percent and half of respondents spoke in favor of Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
