An independent group, co-chaired by Dr. Thomas de Maizière and Dr. Wess Mitchell, handed over a report - “NATO 2030: United for a New Era, Analysis and Recommendations” - to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on how to make NATO an even stronger Alliance. The group’s report is one of a number of inputs into the Secretary General’s NATO 2030 initiative. Georgia is also mentioned in the report.

“The Russian government seeks hegemony over its former Soviet possessions and undermines their sovereignty and territorial integrity, seeking to block the path of nations that want to move toward NATO. While Russian aggression in Ukraine and Georgia continues, assertive Russian behavior has intensified in the High North and North Atlantic, with air and naval build ups in and around key maritime chokepoints in the Barents, Baltic, and Black seas, and the Mediterranean.

NATO’s Open Door Policy should be upheld and reinvigorated. NATO should seek to expand and strengthen partnerships with Ukraine and Georgia as vulnerable democracies that seek membership and are under constant external and internal pressure from Russia”, - reads the report.

The group was composed of: Greta Bossenmaier (Canada), Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen (Denmark), Hubert Védrine (France), Thomas de Maizière (Germany), Marta Dassù (Italy), Herna Verhagen (The Netherlands), Anna Fotyga (Poland), Tacan Ildem (Turkey), John Bew (United Kingdom) and Wess Mitchell (United States).