NATO must decide as a whole on Ukraine's future membership, said Friedrich Merz, the conservative frontrunner for the upcoming German elections, during the Munich Security Conference, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
"Since the last NATO summit, there has been a consensus that Ukraine should have a membership perspective," Merz stressed. "If this is to change, the alliance must make the decision together," he added.
Regarding US President Donald Trump's strategy for negotiations with Russia, Merz said he would not support ruling out the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO even before the start of negotiations with Moscow.
"There is a status, there is an agreement, there is something that NATO has already decided," said the leader of the conservative bloc, recalling that last year the alliance assured Ukraine that it was on an "irreversible path" to membership. This was recorded in the final document of the summit in Washington in July.
Meanwhile, in a speech in Brussels on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that "The United States does not believe that Ukraine's membership in NATO is a realistic outcome of the negotiations to settle the conflict".
Merz also called on the United States not to interfere in the German election campaign.
"We respect the presidential and congressional elections in the United States and we expect the United States to do the same here," the leader of the center-right bloc said. This was his response to critical comments made by US Vice President J.D. Vance before the conference the previous day.
Vance criticized the fact that the political center parties in Germany refuse to interact with the far-right "Alternative for Germany" (AfG), although the party enjoys significant public support.