Olaf Scholz on Ukraine's NATO Membership

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that Ukraine's NATO membership is not currently under consideration.

This is reported by Baku.ws with reference to TASS.

"The American government is postponing this. NATO's decisions are such that it won't be blocked, but it's not under consideration either. And therefore, in this situation, NATO membership is not being discussed, which I explicitly state," Scholz noted during an election debate with Friedrich Merz, the chancellor candidate from the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union bloc, responding to a question about Ukraine's NATO membership. At the same time, Scholz maintained that currently, the focus is on ensuring Ukraine's protection.

The chancellor also stated that there should not be any discussions behind Ukraine's back. "I don't like it when some people say that Ukraine can cede territory. And this is also their business," Scholz believes. At the same time, he stated that "it is necessary to help Ukraine so that it has a strong army." "Because with its economy, it won't be able to finance an army of the scale it needs for self-defense. This is the first important thing we need to agree on, as well as security guarantees around this," Scholz concluded.

Merz also expressed the opinion that Ukraine cannot currently be admitted to the North Atlantic Alliance as the country is in a state of war. "Ukraine should be admitted to the European Union in the medium term," he said, adding that there are also obligations to provide assistance to it.