Blue &Yellow: Politics and Economics in Ukraine

The pre-summit meeting of 26 allied Defense Ministers held on February 19 and 20 in Cracow reviewed this troubled partnership in a revamped NATO-Ukraine Commission in the 26 + 1 format. Chairing the proceedings, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer gave assurances of "continue[d] support for Ukraine's [defense sector] reforms and preparations for NATO membership." The Commission would monitor the implementation of Ukraine's defense sector reforms and focus on the first Annual National Program (ANP) in that regard. "We are determined to continue to develop this strategic partnership," de Hoop Scheffer assured the Ukrainian delegation (NATO release, February 20).

Others struck a different note, however. German Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung made it clear at the Cracow ministerial meeting that Berlin did not want ANPs with membership-oriented content for Ukraine and Georgia (Financial Times Deutschland, February 21). France was even blunter. During NATO's recent Security Conference in Munich, French President Nicolas Sarkozy took aim at Ukraine and NATO's open door in one swipe: "If you see the light in the window, it does not mean that you must go knocking at the door" (Ukrayinska Pravda, February 11).

Tymoshenko is now distancing herself from the goal of membership in NATO. In her speech at NATO's Security Conference in Munich she cited Russia's opposition to that goal and the split in Ukrainian public opinion regarding NATO. On that basis she argued that Ukraine's best option would be to join some kind of all-European collective security system in which Russia would also be a full participant (Ukrayinska Pravda, February 11). As she prepares to enter the presidential election campaign later this year, Tymoshenko is clearly and inevitably backtracking on her earlier support for Ukrainian membership in NATO.