NATO is a political and military alliance whose main aim is to ensure security and freedom of its member countries. All NATO members share common values such as democracy, individual freedom and rule of law. Founded in Washington in 1949, the Alliance recognizes the supremacy of the United Nations and the Security Council to maintain peace and security on a global level. The article 5 of the Washington Treaty is core to the Alliance declaring the indivisibility of security and collective defence. An attack against one Ally is an attack against all. The decision-making body of the Alliance is the North Atlantic Council formed by the Permanent Representatives of the 32 member states and the Secretary General. Every Ally has the same privilege of the floor and all the decisions are taken unanimously and consensually.
The member states are: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Since 1st October 2014, Jens Stoltenberg (former Prime Minister of Norway) has been the NATO Secretary General. The Deputy Secretary General is Mircea Geoană, former President of the Senate of Romania. The Chairman of the Military Committee is currently Admiral Rob Bauer.
The necessary development of the Alliance to face current security challenges is reflected in the new Strategic Concept, approved during the Madrid Summit on 29th June 2022. The Strategic Concept is NATO’s official document that highlights the Alliance’s objectives, its nature and values it wants to promote. NATO’s activities focus on three major tasks: collective defence, crisis management and cooperative security.
In order to ensure the security of the Euro-Atlantic area, NATO has developed a strong collaboration and dialogue with the Euro-Atlantic countries, and in 1994 it has launched the Partnership for Peace (PfP) with 20 European and Central-Asian countries currently participating. The EAPC (Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council) is a platform that allows member states to meet with Partners on a regular basis and consult on issues of common interest.
Moreover, the Alliance has collaboration programmes with countries outside the Euro-Atlantic framework, such as the Mediterranean Dialogue (established in 1994 and currently involving Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia) and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (launched in 2004 and currently involving Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE. Since April 2011, NATO has officialised its long-standing ties with Afghanistan, Australia, Colombia, South Korea, Japan, Iraq, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan with Partners across the globe.
The core military structure of the Alliance consists of the Allied Command Operations (ACO), i.e. SHAPE (Supreme Headquarter Allied Powers Europe) based in Mons, Belgium, and the Allied Command Transformation (ACT) based in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. The collective defence of the Allies is organised in a ranking structure, the NATO Command Structure (NCS).
NATO Agencies
In 2014, NATO agencies were reformed through the establishment of 4 agencies in the fields of information and communication (NCI Agency), support and procurement (NSPA), science and technology (STO) and defence innovation (DIANA). Furthermore, the NATO Standardization Agency (NSA) has become the NATO Standardization Office (NSO) as a support element under the exclusive supervision of NATO.
NATO PA (Parliamentary Assembly)
Created in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is a platform that allows national MP representatives to gather and discuss about major topics in order to lobby the decisions of the Atlantic Council. The NATO PA also allows MPs to be fully aware of the issues discussed on a daily basis within NATO and helps deepening Atlantic ties. In theory, the NATO PA is a separate entity from the Alliance, but it represents an essential bond with the national Parliaments.
For further information on NATO activities and bibliographic material, please refer to the several resources made available by the Alliance: