NATO Basics

Source: http://www.nato.int

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Outline

• The Treaty• Enlargement • Partners• National Delegations• Decision-making• Institutions• International Staff• Petroleum Committee• Pipeline System

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Member Countries

• 12 founding members: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, UK and US

• NATO has an “open door policy”, based upon Art. 10 of the Washington Treaty, which states that membership is open to any “European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area”

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Cold War Enlargement

• 1952: Greece and Turkeyreinforcing the Southern Flank

• 1955: Germany (West)forward defense from the Rhine to the Elbe– With the reunification of Germany in 1990, the

länders of the former GDR joined the FRG in its membership

• 1982 Spain

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Post-Cold War Enlargement

• The fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact opened up the possibility of further NATO enlargement

• 1995, Study on NATO Enlargement concluded that the end of the Cold War provided a unique opportunity to build improved security in the entire Euro-Atlantic area and that enlargement would contribute to enhanced stability and security for all

• The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland were invited to begin accession talks in 1997 and in March 1999 they became the first former members of the Warsaw Pact to join NATO

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…post cold war enlargement

• April 1999: Membership Action Plan (MAP) established to help countries aspiring to NATO membership in their preparations

• Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia were invited to begin accession talks in 2002

• In 2004, they officially became members of the Alliance, making this the largest wave of enlargement in NATO history

• All seven countries had participated in the MAP before acceding to NATO

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…post cold war enlargement

• The most recent accessions are those of Albania and Croatia

• Albania had participated in MAP since its inception in 1999 and Croatia joined in 2002

• They worked with NATO in a wide range of areas, with particular emphasis on defense and security sector reform, as well as support for wider democratic and institutional reform

• In 2008, they both signed Accession Protocols and became official members of the Alliance in 2009

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Partners

• NATO cooperates with a range of international organizations and countries in different structures:

Formal Partnerships: Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC); Mediterranean Dialogue; Istanbul Cooperation Initiative

Partners across the globeInternational Organizations: UN, EU, OSCE

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National Delegations

• Each NATO member country has a delegation at NATO Headquarters in Brussels

• The delegation has a status similar to that of an embassy

• It is headed by an “ambassador” or “permanent representative”, who acts on instructions from his or her capital and reports back to the national authorities

• With all the delegations in the same building, they are able to maintain formal and informal contacts with each other

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…national delegations

• They are also able to maintain contact with NATO's International Staff, International Military Staff and representatives of Partner countries, each of which are entitled to have a mission at NATO Headquarters

• A delegation’s function is two-fold: to represent its country’s government and contribute to the consultation process, which allows NATO to take collective decisions or actions

• Delegations can vary in size and are principally staffed with civil servants from the ministries of foreign affairs and defense

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Consensus decision-making

• All NATO decisions are made by consensus, after discussion and consultation among member countries

• A decision reached by consensus is an agreement reached by common consent, a decision that is accepted by each member country

• This means that when a "NATO decision" is announced, it is the expression of the collective will of all the sovereign states that are members of the Alliance

• This principle is applied at every committee level

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…consensus

• Consensus decision-making means that there is no voting at NATO

• Consultations take place until a decision that is acceptable to all is reached (Sometimes member countries agree to disagree on an issue)

• In general, this negotiation process is rapid since members consult each other on a regular basis and therefore often know and understand each other's positions in advance

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…consensus

• Facilitating the process of consultation is one of the NATO Secretary General's main tasks

• Consensus has been accepted as the sole basis for decision-making in NATO since the creation of the Alliance in 1949

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Policy and Decision-making Institutions- NAC

• NATO works by committees

• Principal committees:

• North Atlantic Council (NAC):principal political decision-making body

within NATO and the only committee that was established by the founding Treaty (art. 9)

ultimate authority within NATO

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Policy and Decision-making Institutions-NPG

• Nuclear Planning Group (NPG):Founded in 1966 at US suggestion and

formed by all member countries, with the exception of France, which has decided not to participate

Chaired by NATO Secretary GeneralRole: to review NATO’s nuclear policy in the

light of the ever-changing security challenges of the international environment and to adapt it if necessary

Meets at the level of Ambassadors; and once a year at the level of Ministers of Defense

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Policy and Decision-making Institutions-MC

• Military Committee (MC)senior military authority in NATO and the

oldest permanent body after NAC• primary source of military advice to NATO’s

civilian decision-making bodies – NAC and NPGIts advice is sought prior to any authorization

for military action and, consequently represents an essential link between the political decision-making process and the military structure of NATO

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Policy and Decision-making Institutions-Summit Meetings

• NATO summit meetings provide periodic opportunities for Heads of State and Government of member countries to evaluate and provide strategic direction for Alliance activities

• Summits have been used to introduce new policy, invite new members, launch major new initiatives and build partnerships with non-NATO countries

• From the founding of NATO in 1949 until today there have been 25 NATO summits. The most recent one took place in Chicago, May 2012

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The Secretary General

• The Secretary General is the Alliance’s top international civil servant. This person is responsible for steering the process of consultation and decision-making in the Alliance and ensuring that decisions are implemented

• The Secretary General is also NATO’s chief spokesperson and the head of the Organization’s International Staff

• The function of Secretary General is filled by a senior statesman with high-level political experience in the government of one of the member countries

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…Secretary General

• The person is nominated by member governments for an initial period of four years, which can be extended by mutual consent to a fifth year

• The position has traditionally been held by a European statesman

• The post is currently held by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark

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International Staff (IS)

• Some 1200 civilians work within NATO's International Staff (IS) at NATO Headquarters in Brussels

• The primary role of the IS is to provide advice, guidance and administrative support to the national delegations

• IS helps to implement decisions taken at different committee levels and, in doing so, supports the process of consensus-building and decision-making within the Alliance

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…International Staff

• The IS is headed by NATO’s Secretary General, who from an administrative point of view, is also a member of the IS

• Staff members are recruited from NATO member countries

• Worldwide, some 5000 civilians work for NATO in different agencies and strategic and regional commands

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Petroleum Committee

• The Petroleum Committee is the senior advisory body in NATO for logistic support to Alliance forces on all matters concerning petroleum, including the NATO Pipeline System (NPS), other petroleum installations and handling equipment

• The Petroleum Committee reports to the Logistics Committee on questions related to NATO petroleum requirements and how they are met in times of peace, crisis and conflict, including expeditionary operations

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NATO Pipeline System (NPS)

• NATO has a pipeline system designed to ensure that its requirements for petroleum products and their distribution can be met at all times

• NPS consists of ten distinct storage and distribution systems for fuels and lubricants

• In total, it is approximately 12,000 kilometers long, runs through 13 NATO countries and has a storage capacity of 5.5 million cubic meters

• NPS was set up during the Cold War to supply NATO forces with fuel and it continues to satisfy fuel requirements with the flexibility that today’s security environment requires

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Central Europe Pipeline System (CEPS)

• CEPS is the largest of the NPS• Designed and managed to meet operational

requirements in central Europe in peace, crisis and conflict

• Also used commercially under strict safeguards, supplying jet fuel to several major civil airports such as Frankfurt, Schiphol, Brussels, Luxembourg and Zurich

• The CEPS is used by five Host Nations - Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and The Netherlands – and one User Nation: the United States