Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of Lithuania and other NATO member countries urge to create a clear path for Ukraine's accession to NATO at the Vilnius NATO Summit

June 1, 2023

Today, Žygimantas Pavilionis, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas, together with the Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the national parliaments of Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Norway, Romania, Poland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement calling on NATO and its Heads of State and Government to offer Ukraine a clear prospect of NATO membership at the Vilnius NATO Summit.

‘The fact that Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the majority of the parliaments of the NATO member countries, not only the parliaments of the Nordic, Baltic, Central European and Balkan countries, that is, the Eastern flank countries, which are very familiar with the threat of the Kremlin, but also the very influential parliaments of the Benelux countries, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States have in principle supported the provisions on Ukraine’s NATO membership as contained in a resolution of the Seimas is our major achievement. We are fully aware that the final decisions will be taken at the NATO Summit in Vilnius by NATO Heads of State. As NATO has been defending the democracies of its member countries for nearly 75 years, I hope that they will hear the voices of their nations, which, via their national parliaments, are clearly calling for opening of the door to NATO for Ukraine in Vilnius,’ says Žygimantas Pavilionis, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

In the statement, the members of national parliaments stress that it is more important than ever to implement Bucharest decisions and to permanently eradicate grey security areas in Europe, as well as the current uncertainty surrounding Ukraine’s NATO membership. Ukraine’s membership in NATO would be far more effective and less costly than the defence assistance currently provided to Ukraine. According to the Chairs of the Committees, Ukraine’s membership would significantly strengthen NATO itself.

The text of the statement is HERE

Prepared by

Evaldas Zelenka, Head of the Office of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Office of the Seimas,

tel. +370 5 239 6798, e-mail: [email protected]