Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the latest news released by the press agencies, seems to want to hypothesize a sort of freezing, so to speak, of the conflict with "the unoccupied part of Ukraine immediately under the umbrella of NATO", believing that he can, at a later stage, think about the territories occupied by the Russians in order to be able to "bring them back in a diplomatic way".

Only last year, according to media reports, and despite the fact that Ukraine submitted its candidacy to NATO on September 30, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself seemed to have shown that he understood the fact that Ukraine could not aspire to become a member of NATO while it was still in a state of war, since, in essence, the Alliance Treaty, in its Article 5, contains a collective defense provision that commits members to come to the aid of any state that is under attack.

And if, on the one hand, Jens Stoltenberg, then Secretary General of the Alliance, had to maintain that "the future of Ukraine is in NATO", some Member States (not least Germany since the time of Angela Merkel, and recently, Slovakia, led by Robert Fico), had in turn to consider that allowing Ukraine to join could have brought harm, rather than advantage, to relations between the West and Russia. So, again, it would not seem that any kind of understanding (one way or the other) has been found that is convincingly common on the specific aspect.

It would almost seem, that is, that even if there does not appear to be any specific intention regarding a potential return to the times of the so-called spheres of interest (and which would indeed seem to be excluded), when the most representative countries, so to speak, decided what they should do with the smaller ones, nevertheless, in the same way, there does not seem to exist (or at least this would seem to be the feeling) any certainty regarding future developments.

Europe, regardless of the intention it may express as a whole, would seem, in the circumstances, since the new College of Commissioners has been approved, to be able to aspire to play a leading role also and above all in the developments of world diplomacy. Saying it differently, it could still aspire to play that role of bridge between East and West which, to date, would seem to appear as a necessary path to maintaining, and intensifying, a dialogue that can be considered effectively and efficiently profitable between the parties.

On a purely political level, it would be a remarkable achievement that could prove useful for the so-called Old Continent, to give it back, and/or to confer upon it, that "bargaining power" (if we wanted to define the decisional imprinting that the European Union could assume on the global geopolitical level) necessary in international relational exchanges. Despite the critical attitude towards NATO that seems to have come forward in recent times, however, the Atlantic Alliance has undeniably played, over time, an indispensable role, having induced the terms of the East-West confrontation to a peaceful epilogue especially when one wants to consider, in their significance and consistency, the numerous and unpredictable changes that have occurred over the years in the Euro-Atlantic strategic scenario, also determined by the end of the so-called Cold War.

Probably, also considering the critical issues that probably still exist on the geopolitical and relational level, and the lack of unanimity of intent among the Member States of the European Union, the concrete accession of Ukraine to NATO would seem to be an achievable goal, if anything, in the long term, and with good likelihood, to understand future intentions we will have to wait for the Presidency of Donald Trump. Beyond any other reflection on the subject, the context that has emerged after February 24, 2022, would seem to suggest to the great powers to work together in order to intensify, under the aegis of NATO itself, the common commitment and mutual cooperation between sovereign states, aiming them, one and the other, to guarantee security for all.

Giuseppina Di Salvatore – Lawyer, Nuoro

© Riproduzione riservata