Italy’s Meloni suggests taking Ukraine under NATO’s security umbrella without providing membership

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggested that NATO could extend its Article 5 projections to Ukraine without making it a member of the alliance. 

Meloni on March 6 (Thursday) made the proposal for the North Atlantic Alliance, during the sidelines of the EU leaders’ emergency Summit in Brussels.

Notably, Article 5 states that an attack on any NATO member would be treated like an attack on all of them. 

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“We need to think about more durable solutions” than just sending European peacekeepers to Ukraine, Meloni said. 

“Extending the same coverage that NATO countries have to Ukraine would certainly be much more effective while being something different from NATO’s membership,” the Italian PM said at a press briefing in Brussels. 

“It’s a different thing than entering NATO, but it implies extending the coverage that NATO countries have also to Ukraine,” she added.

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She further said that it would be a “stable, lasting, effective security guarantee, more than some of the proposals I’m seeing.” 

Moreover, when asked about how Europe might provide security guarantees to Ukraine without a US backdrop, both European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dodged specifics and shifted to praising the Ukrainian military.

“The best security guarantee is the Ukrainians themselves,” Costa said, stressing that Ukraine has been fighting the war for over three years. 

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Meanwhile, as discussed in yesterday’s Summit, the European countries are developing a “coalition of the willing” to monitor a potential ceasefire in Ukraine. 

Further, countries including Canada, Australia, and Ireland have shown openness to partake in such a mission.

Notably, Ukraine has wanted to join NATO for long and it has been a highly contentious subject. Russia could be angered by any moves to extend the alliance’s support for Kyiv. 

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(With inputs from agencies)