NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg organised a separate meeting of allied foreign ministers with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Bucharest to get around Hungary’s veto on official NATO-Ukraine Commission meetings, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on November 29, 2022.
A veto since 2017
“To formally overcome the Hungarian veto, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is organising a separate meeting,” the ministry said, European Pravda reported. It said Hungary’s veto had prevented Ukraine from taking part in official foreign ministers’ meetings within the NATO-Ukraine Commission since 2017, and that earlier meetings had also used workaround formats.
Budapest has blocked the commission’s high-level meetings over a dispute concerning the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.
Aid and energy
The meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Bucharest on November 29-30 focused on further support for Ukraine, including military aid and help restoring its energy infrastructure after weeks of Russian strikes. Kuleba also planned bilateral meetings.
Welcoming Kuleba, Stoltenberg said: “We will stand by Ukraine as long as it takes; we will not back down.”
Membership question
Ukraine applied for fast-track NATO membership in September. Allies have reaffirmed the 2008 Bucharest summit decision that Ukraine will one day become a member, but no timeline has been set.
Sources
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