Ukraine and Georgia not ready for NATO – German diplomat

21 Oct, 2008 10:37 / Updated 16 years ago

Germany’s Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office has said that Ukraine and Georgia have too many problems to be considered ready for NATO membership.

Gernot Erler said that Ukraine shouldn’t enter the alliance because the majority of the population doesn’t support it. He added that Georgia should be ruled out on the basis of its disputes over its territorial integrity and tensions in relations with its neighbours. The German official declared that such problems should not be brought into the alliance. “For now Ukraine and Georgia doesn’t fit the high standards of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” he said.