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NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an alliance of 26 countries of Europe and North America.
On 4 April 1949, twelve countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) concluded the North Atlantic Treaty, thus founding the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which was then joined by Greece and Turkey in 1952 and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955. In 1982, Spain was the last, sixteenth, country to become a NATO member during the Cold War. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined NATO in 1999, followed by Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia on 29 March 2004.
The basic goal of NATO is to protect freedom and security of all its members by political and military means and in compliance with the North Atlantic Treaty and the UN Charter. Ever since its establishment, the Alliance endeavoured towards a just and peaceful Europe based on the common values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
The basic goals of NATO are the following fundamental tasks:
- Security: To ensure a stable Euro-Atlantic security environment based on the growth of democratic institutions and commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes.
- Consultations: To act pursuant to Article 4 of the Washington Treaty as the basic transatlantic forum for consultations between the Allies on all issues affecting their vital interests, including potential events that might pose a threat to security of an individual member; and for appropriate harmonisation of their endeavours in the areas of common interest.
- Deterrence and defence: To deter and defend any NATO member from any threat of aggression, as provided for in Articles 5 and 6 of the Washington Treaty.
- Crisis management: To be ready on the case-by-case basis and on the principle of consensus to contribute to efficient conflict prevention and active engagement in crises management, including the crisis-response operations, as laid down by Article 7 of the Washington Treaty.
- Partnership: To promote broad partnership, cooperation and dialogue with other countries in the Euro-Atlantic area, with the aim of promoting transparency, mutual trust and interoperability.
NATO’s mission since its establishment in 1949 has been the collective defence of member states. The organisation itself, however, has changed according to interests and needs of the Allies and in response to types of threats. Following the end of the Cold War, the threat of a major war in Europe practically disappeared.
New types of threats appeared, such as:
- inter-ethnic conflicts,
- political and economic instability,
- proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and
- terrorism.
The expansion of the scope of tasks to these areas requires the adaptation and strengthening of capabilities. The 2002 NATO Summit in Prague devoted special attention to improving capabilities (Prague Capabilities Commitment, PCC) and to reforming the command structure. The Prague Summit was exceptionally important to Slovenia because the invitation was extended to our country to join the Alliance.
Slovenia attended the Istanbul NATO Summit in June 2004 as a full member of the Alliance for the first time. The Istanbul Summit consolidated the commitments made at the Prague Summit, i.e. further transformation of NATO’s military capabilities and their adapting to new security challenges.
The Summit did not bring any new invitations; nonetheless maintenance of NATO’s open-door policy was emphasized.
The Summit dealt with the EU takeover of SFOR (December 2004), adopted the strategy of a more active NATO engagement in Afghanistan and adopted a package of defence measures against terrorism as well as NATO policy concerning the fight against human trafficking. Furthermore, the Istanbul Summit provided new impetus for cooperation with the Mediterranean Dialogue countries and a new initiative for NATO’s cooperation with countries of the Broader Middle East with its Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. Enhanced cooperation was concluded at the Summit with the European Union, European countries including Russia, Ukraine, and the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
More information is available at: http://www.nato.int |
