“Alliance needs to get creative on how to get aspirant countries across the finish line,” Luke Coffey, Director of the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation, stated in an interview with Georgian Public Broadcaster.

“The Alliance needs to get creative on how to get these other [aspirant] countries across the finish line and into NATO. Some of these countries, like Georgia, was first promised membership in 2008 and thirteen years later there is no membership prospect in the near future. I think this is unacceptable,”  Luke Coffey said.

He said that his proposal for NATO was to invite all of Georgia to join NATO, but two areas under Russian occupation would not get Article 5 NATO protection until the conflict with Russia be resolved peacefully.

“This works for Georgia because Georgia already has a non-use of force pledge to take back these two occupied regions. So, the Georgian Government already has the non-use of force pledge. Why they need a NATO security guarantee for these two regions? It is a useless roadblock for Georgia’s NATO aspirations. It gives Russia a de facto veto.

I am tired of year after year, conference after conference, summit after NATO summit, hearing the same things about Georgia’s on track, Georgia makes progress, NATO-Georgia relationship is close. All these are true, but now it is time to change, to get real actions,” he declared.