Following a ministerial meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia, the participants, including representatives of Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Romania, Slovenia, Albania, Moldova, and others, confirmed that Ukraine’s NATO membership is justifiable both in terms of security and economic considerations.
The joint statement emphasized the view that no external state has the right to veto the Alliance’s open-door policy, and that Ukraine has the sovereign right to choose its own security direction.
“NATO membership remains the most economically efficient security option for Ukraine. Neither Russia nor any other non-NATO state has a right of veto over the Alliance’s enlargement. We fully support Ukraine’s right to choose its own security mechanisms and decide its future free from external interference,” the communiqué reads.
The meeting participants also confirmed their determination to ensure further progress for Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and partners from the Western Balkans in meeting the EU-defined accession criteria and fundamental values.
The communiqué strongly condemned Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. The attendees also committed to strengthening cooperation in countering hybrid threats, foreign interference and manipulation, disinformation campaigns, and malicious cyber operations.
“We are partners, not competitors, on our shared path toward a larger and stronger Europe. And in fact, EU enlargement is not expansion but reunification. Because it is about our return to a common home, to which we have always historically, culturally, and as a civilizational belonged,” said Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
Ukraine is ready to contribute to pan-European security and prosperity – in trade, logistics, energy, food security, military technologies and defense innovations, IT, countering disinformation and hybrid threats, as well as strengthening social cohesion and national resilience.
Sybiha declared that negotiations on EU accession must be based on an objective assessment of merit, and that any artificial political obstacles on the path to opening negotiations are unacceptable.
He reaffirmed Ukraine’s commitment to the pursuit of a just peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine, underlining continued rejection of US-led peace efforts by Moscow which seeks to continue the war. He said the only effective way to stop Putin is to deprive his war machine of resources and called for stronger pressure to be applied to Russia to compel it towards opting for peace.