Merkel: Too Soon for Georgia’s MAP

It is too soon for NATO to provide Membership Action Plans (MAP) to Georgia and Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in St. Petersburg on October 2. Merkel, speaking at a joint news conference with President Medvedev in St. Petersburg, reiterated Berlin’s strong support to Georgia’s territorial integrity.

Merkel said at a joint press conference after talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that a NATO ministerial meeting in December would only provide “an initial evaluation on the road to MAP,” according to AFP.

“The position in favor of membership as soon as possible is not the German position,” Merkel said.

She added that a desire to join the bloc was not the only criterion for membership. “The German position has not changed since the Bucharest summit,” Merkel said.

NATO rejected Georgia’s bid for a MAP at its April summit in Bucharest, but gave temporizing assurance that it would become a member of the alliance in the future.

The German Chancellor also said at the news conference that Georgia’s territorial integrity was “non-negotiable.”

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