The Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, has once again put on the table a proposal that does not leave indifferent: to extend article 5 of NATO to Ukraine. He has done this Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies, on the eve of the European Council, with a direct and loaded message of intention. According to Meloni, this measure would serve to offer kyiv security guarantees without giving him full membership in the Atlantic Alliance and, at the same time, he would test the real intentions of the Kremlin.
“It seems the simplest and most effective proposal of all, also because it would help unmask the possible Putin lantern,” he said during his speech, collected by the agency citing a Askanews. “If Russia does not plan to invade its neighbors again, it is not understood why you should not accept security guarantees,” he finished.
Meloni has been bluntly with the alternative proposals that circulate from other European governments. He has described them as “ineffective” and has made it clear that Italy does not plan to act as a mere spectator. “Peace is based on security guarantees. We must not blindly follow what others say just to position ourselves. Our role is to participate with our own ideas. Who has the value of raising them is doing something useful,” he defended.
What implies extending article 5 from NATO to Ukraine
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty establishes that an armed attack against a member country is considered an attack against all, which automatically activates a joint response. What Meloni proposes is not a formal adhesion of Ukraine to NATO, but to apply that collective defense clause as a provisional formula to shield its safety.
The Italian president already launched this proposal on March 7. Now it seeks to be officially discussed within the European Union. In his opinion, that would be the clearest way to show that Europe is not intimidated and that it acts with strategic independence.
Pressure to Hungary to block the adhesion of Ukraine
Meanwhile, within the European Union itself the tension with Hungary grows due to its blockade to the opening of adhesion negotiations with Ukraine. The spokesman of the Poland Foreign Ministry, Pawel Wroński, has revealed that several ministers took advantage of the EU Foreign Council of Foreign Affairs to put the Hungarian Minister against the ropes.
“He has been reminded that bilateral issues, which Ukraine has already shown a willingness to resolve, should not stop the debate on the first chapter of the negotiation, which must be opened based on objective criteria,” Wroński explained in statements to Ukrinform.
Warsaw does not hide his discomfort. Consider that it is a priority issue and works to counterreloj to dismantle the obstacles imposed by Budapest. The Foreign Minister himself, Radosław Sikorski, confirmed after the March 17 meeting that Hungary continues to block the start of the conversations.
For his part, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, said in Warsaw that his government explores different ways to unlock the situation. As he said, they have the support of European diplomacy to unrave the negotiations and prevent a bilateral issue for the Ukraine path to Brussels.
