U.S. Department of State spokesman, Sean McCormack, said Washington’s “policy is unchanged” over Georgia’s NATO Membership Action Plan.

NATO foreign ministers will gather in Brussels on December 2-3 and will discuss, among other things, how to move forward with Georgia’s NATO ambitions.

In April, NATO summit in Bucharest NATO said no to Georgia’s bid for Membership Action Plan (MAP) at its summit in Bucharest, but gave temporizing assurance that it would become a member of the alliance in the future. The summit also decided that the alliance foreign ministers would review the decision about MAP for Georgia and Ukraine in December.

Robert Gates, the U.S. secretary of defense, urged NATO members in October “to support MAP for Georgia in December and to support Georgia's efforts in accomplishing needed reforms.”

But reports emerged recently that Washington, fearing that formal MAP status for Georgia was probably impossible in December, it was now trying to push for alternative options involving some elements of the country’s further integration.

Speaking to reporters in Tallinn, Robert Gates said earlier this month that there was more than one way for aspiring countries to join the alliance. “There are various pathways to membership. Some have not gone through MAP at all,” he said.

Reuters reported on November 24 quoting unnamed senior European diplomat, that “the MAP is dead for Georgia.” “For the NATO ministerial, no one believes in it but we will try and find some kind of face-saving [solution],” the diplomat was quoted.

When asked about these reports, the U.S. Department of State spokesman, only responded that he expected “there to be a healthy discussion among the North Atlantic Council” in Brussels on December 2-3.

The NATO-Georgia Commission, established after the August war, is also expected to meet on a sideline of the NATO foreign ministerial summit in Brussels.