Beyond the NATO Summit in Washington: Implications for Georgia

Since the 2008 Bucharest Summit, NATO and its member states have been fairly consistent in their response to Georgia’s stated desire to join the alliance: “Georgia will become a member[…]with the Membership Action Plan as an integral part of the process.” Georgia’s bid for NATO membership has been taken seriously, and was for quite some time assessed as growing closer to meeting the standards of NATO. Multiple cooperative projects have been launched to ensure that strong Euro-Atlantic support for Georgia is maintained as the country continues on in its endeavor to meet NATO’s criteria—both in terms of defense and security, as well as democracy and liberal values.

The 2024 Washington Summit marked a historical low for Georgia’s integration prospects: for the first time since the 2008 Bucharest Summit, the NATO Washington Summit Declaration, adopted by the heads of state of the allied countries on July 11, 2024, lacked language indicating that Georgia would eventually become a member of the Alliance. According to pundits, the decision to omit this formulation from the NATO declaration represented an alarming shift in policy. In contrast, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Ilia Darchiashvili, who represented the country at the Washington Summit, insisted that the size of the declaration was such that NATO could not have included a sentence on Georgia’s potential membership in the alliance. According to him, the Georgian government is continuing to “actively work with partners for specific, tangible results” on Euro-Atlantic integration.

At the request of the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP), a selection of experts from different countries responded to the following questions:

1. What are the main implications of the 2024 NATO Washington Summit for Georgia and its Euro-Atlantic integration?
2. How can Georgia avoid harming its bilateral relations with NATO and how can the country get back on the Euro-Atlantic integration track(s)?

Experts Comment #28 | July 2024

This publication was produced with the financial support of NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division and British Embassy in Tbilisi. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division and the Georgian Institute of Politics.