North Atlantic Assembly
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Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the
North Atlantic Alliance The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...
. Its current
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
is Gerald E. Connolly from the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, elected in 2019. Its current Secretary General is Ruxandra Popa; she has been in this position since January 2020.


History

The idea to engage Alliance Parliamentarians in collective deliberations on the problems confronting the transatlantic partnership first emerged in the early 1950s and took shape with the creation of an annual conference of NATO parliamentarians in 1955. The Assembly's creation reflected a desire on the part of legislators to give substance to the premise of the Washington Treaty of 1949 (also known as the
North Atlantic Treaty The North Atlantic Treaty, also referred to as the Washington Treaty, is the treaty that forms the legal basis of, and is implemented by, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 194 ...
) that NATO was the practical expression of a fundamentally political transatlantic alliance of democracies. The foundation for cooperation between NATO and the NATO-PA was strengthened in December 1967 when the
North Atlantic Council The North Atlantic Council (NAC) is the principal political decision-making body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), consisting of permanent representatives of its member countries. It was established by Article 9 of the North ...
(NAC) authorized the NATO Secretary General to study how to achieve closer cooperation between the two bodies. As a result of these deliberations over the following year, the NATO Secretary General, after consultation with the NAC, implemented several measures to enhance the working relationship between NATO and the Assembly. These measures included the Secretary General providing a response to all Assembly recommendations and resolutions adopted in its Plenary Sessions. In response to the fall of the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gover ...
at the end of the 1980s, the NATO-PA broadened its mandate by developing close relations with political leaders in Central and East European countries. Those ties, in turn, greatly facilitated the dialogue that NATO itself embarked upon with the region's governments.


Role

Bringing together
legislator A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ...
s from all the member states of the Atlantic Alliance, the NATO PA provides a link between
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...
and the parliaments of its member nations. At the same time, it facilitates parliamentary awareness and understanding of key security issues and contributes to a greater transparency of NATO policies. Crucially, it helps maintain and strengthen the transatlantic relationship, which underpins the Atlantic Alliance. Since the end of the Cold War the Assembly has assumed a new role by integrating into its work parliamentarians from those countries in
Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europ ...
and beyond who seek a closer association with NATO. This integration has provided both political and practical assistance and has sought to contribute to the strengthening of parliamentary democracy throughout the Euro-Atlantic region, and complement and reinforce NATO's own programme of partnership and co-operation. The Assembly was directly concerned with assisting in the process of ratification of the Protocols of Accession signed at the end of 1997, which culminated in the accession of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to the Alliance in March 1999. It played the same role with respect to the ratification process leading to the accession of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia in March 2004.


Functioning

The NATO PA consists of 269 delegates from the 30 NATO member countries. Delegates from 12 associate countries; the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
; 4 regional partner and Mediterranean associate member countries; as well as parliamentary observers from 8 other parliaments; and 3 inter-parliamentary assemblies also take part in its activities. Delegates to the assembly are nominated by their parliaments according to their national procedures, on the basis of party representation in the parliaments. The assembly therefore represents a broad spectrum of political opinion. The assembly's governing body is the standing committee, which is composed of the head of each member delegation, the president, the vice-presidents, the treasurer and the secretary general. The international secretariat, under its secretary general, is responsible for all administration and the bulk of research and analysis that supports the assembly's committees, sub-committees and other groups. The headquarters of the assembly's 28-strong international secretariat is located in central
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
.


Membership by participating state

The 269 delegates from the 30 member states are as follows; the final columns show the number of (non-voting) delegates from Associate Member states. There are additionally four Regional Partner and Mediterranean Associate States, each with 3 non-voting delegates - Algeria, Israel, Jordan and Morocco. Finally, a number of other states and regional organisations have observer status at NATO Parliamentary Assembly sittings.


Financing

The assembly is directly funded by member parliaments and governments, and is financially and administratively separate from NATO itself. Each country's contribution is based on the NATO Civil Budget formula.


Committee structure

The five committees are: Civil Dimension of Security; Defence and Security; Economics and Security; Political; Science and Technology. They are charged with examining all major contemporary issues in their fields. The committees and sub-committees produce reports, which are discussed in draft form at the assembly's spring session. The reports are then revised and updated for discussion, amendment and adoption at the assembly's annual session in the autumn. At the annual session, the committees also produce policy recommendations, which are voted on by the full assembly and forwarded to the North Atlantic Council and the NATO Secretary General and posted on the assembly's website. The NATO Secretary General responds in writing to the assembly's recommendations. Members of the assembly's committees undertake regular visits and meetings where they receive briefings from leading government and parliamentary representatives, as well as senior academics and experts. NATO-PA delegations also undertake visits to NATO mission areas such as
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
and the
Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
.


Other bodies

Other assembly bodies include the Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group to enhance parliamentary dialogue and understanding with countries of the Middle East and the North African region, the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council, and the NATO-Georgia Interparliamentary Council. The NATO-Russia Parliamentary Committee was discontinued in April 2014 following Russia's military intervention in Ukraine and illegal annexation of Crimea.


Rose-Roth Programme

The Rose-Roth Programme of partnership and co-operation is designed to extend assistance to countries undergoing transition through difficult political and economic reforms. The program was initially designed to support Central and Eastern European countries but has subsequently focused mainly on the Balkans and the South Caucasus. Under this Programme, every year two to three Rose-Roth seminars are organized in a non-NATO country in partnership with the host nation parliament. These events, attended by members of parliament from member and partner states as well as independent experts, focus on regional and topical security issues. Along with additional training programmes for parliamentary staff and members of parliament, these events emphasize issues such as effective parliamentary oversight of defence and the military.


NATO Orientation Programme

The NATO Orientation programme is focused primarily on young or newly elected members of parliament from NATO and
Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) is a post–Cold War, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) institution. The EAPC is a multilateral forum created to improve relations between NATO and non-NATO countries in Europe and Central Asi ...
(EAPC) nations, as well as those newly assigned to security or foreign affairs responsibilities. The programme aims at providing an in-depth overview of the functioning and policies of NATO and
SHAPE A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie ...
as well as of the Alliance's evolving relationships with its many partners. The Programme was launched in 2000 and is held annually in Brussels.


Parliamentary Transatlantic Forum

In 2001, growing concern about the apparent drift in transatlantic attitudes, perceptions and policies, the assembly launched an annual "Parliamentary Transatlantic Forum" which brings together members of the assembly with senior US administration figures and academic experts. The forum is held annually in Washington DC in co-operation with the U.S.
National Defense University The National Defense University (NDU) is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level education, training, and professional development of national security leaders. As ...
and the
Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic pro ...
of the United States.


Parliamentary groups

Many members of the Parliamentary Assembly belong to one of the informal
parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliame ...
s. The largest groups are the
Socialist Group The Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group (french: Groupe Socialiste, SOC) is a primarily social-democratic political grouping in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It was known as the Socialist Group prior to August 2017. The g ...
and the Group of Conservatives, Christian Democrats and Associates.


Relations with NATO

There is no formal link between the NATO-PA and NATO although there is long history of cooperation that has intensified in the post–Cold War era. The Assembly's Standing Committee meets annually with both the Secretary General and the Permanent Representatives to the North Atlantic Council at NATO Headquarters to exchange views on the state of the Alliance and to provide the perspectives of legislators. The Secretary General participates in the spring and autumn sessions of the Assembly as well as other special activities; he also provides a written response to the recommendations passed by the Assembly at its autumn session. The Assembly's Presidents, in turn, participate in Summit meetings of the Alliance.
Supreme Allied Commander Europe The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is ...
(SACEUR) and other senior military officials in the NATO chain of command also regularly meet with Assembly members in various formats.


Relations with Russia, Ukraine and Georgia

Expanding on the relationship the Assembly had developed with parliaments in Russia and Ukraine at the end of the Cold War, the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between the Russian Federation and NATO, signed in May 1997, and the NATO-Ukraine Charter signed in July 1997, explicitly charged the Assembly with expanding its dialogue and cooperation with both the Russian Federal Assembly and the Ukrainian Rada. Relations with the Russian Federal Parliament were reappraised entirely following Russia's perceived military intervention in the
Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Rev ...
and annexation of Crimea. The Assembly also created a bilateral group with the Georgian Parliament in 2009 to support Georgia's integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. Following the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...
, the NATO PA recognised in November 2022, Russia as a terrorist state.


Discontinued NATO-Russia Parliamentary Committee

Mirroring the creation in May 2002 of the NATO-Russia Council, a major step forward in NATO's cooperation with Russia, the Assembly created the NATO-Russia parliamentary Committee (NRPC). Until it was discontinued in April 2014, the NATO-Russia Parliamentary Committee met twice a year during each of the Assembly's sessions in an "at 29" format and had become the main framework for direct NATO-Russia parliamentary relations. It consisted of the leaders of the Assembly's 28 member delegations and the leaders of the Russian delegation to the Assembly. In addition to the dialogue held within this the Committee, a 10-person delegation of the Russian Federal Assembly participated in the Assembly's Plenary Sessions as well as in many Assembly Committee and Sub-Committee meetings and seminars. In April 2014, the NATO PA decided to withdraw the Russian Parliament's associate membership of the Assembly, thus effectively ending regular institutional relations with the Russian Parliament.


Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council

In 2002, the Assembly also decided to upgrade its special relationship with Ukraine by creating the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council (UNIC). The Assembly's cooperation with the
Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...
was progressively strengthened in the run-up to the Ukrainian Presidential elections in 2004. Members of the NATO-PA were involved in election monitoring, supporting the international community's effort. The Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council (UNIC) monitors NATO's relationship with Ukraine, paying particular attention to the parliamentary aspects of Ukraine's defence and political reform. In addition to the UNIC meetings biannually held in both Brussels and Kyiv, there is usually one Committee or Sub-Committee visit to Kiev each year.


Georgia-NATO Interparliamentary Council

In 2009, the Assembly approved the creation of a Georgia-NATO inter-parliamentary council. The Georgia-NATO Interparliamentary Council is composed of the Assembly's Bureau (President, Vice-Presidents and Treasurer) and the 4-member Georgian delegation to the NATO PA. The Group meets twice a year to discuss all aspects of Georgia-NATO cooperation and coordinate Assembly activities related to Georgia.


Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group

The Assembly created in 1995 a Mediterranean Special Group with the aim of opening a political dialogue with legislators from countries of the Middle East and North Africa. The programme gradually expanded and the Assembly has now established relations at various levels with many parliaments across the Mediterranean, Northern and Central Africa, and the Middle East. The Group meets three times a year either in NATO member countries or in the region. These meetings seek to enhance parliamentary awareness of the problems of the region, promote a political dialogue between parliamentarians, and share best practices among members of the respective parliaments.


Presidents

*
Wishart McLea Robertson Wishart McLea Robertson, (February 15, 1891 – August 16, 1967) was a politician in Nova Scotia, Canada. Robertson's paternal grandfather, Robert Robertson, was a member of Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1854 until 1878. His father, ...
(1955–1956) *
Wayne Hays Wayne Levere Hays (May 13, 1911 – February 10, 1989) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative of Ohio, in the Democratic Party, from 1949 to 1976. He resigned from Congress after a much-publicized sex scandal. Early year ...
(1956–1957) * Johannes Josephus Fens (1957–1959) *
Antoine Béthouart Marie Émile Antoine Béthouart (17 December 1889 – 17 October 1982) was a French Army general who served during World War I and World War II. Born in Dole, Jura, in the Jura Mountains, Béthouart graduated from Saint-Cyr military academy ...
(1959–1960) * Nils Langhelle (1960–1961) * Pietro Micara (1961–1962) * Lord Crathorne (1962–1963) * Georg Kliesing (1963–1964) * Henri Moreau de Melen (1964–1965) * José Soares da Fonseca (1965–1966) * Jean-Eudes Dubé (1966–1967) * Matthías Árni Mathiesen (1967–1968) *
Kasım Gülek Kasım Gülek (1905 – 1996) was a prominent Turkish statesman credited with being instrumental in entrenching democracy in Turkey by taking politics to the masses. Biography He was born and lived in Adana, Adana Vilayet, Ottoman Empire, ...
(1968–1969) *
Wayne Hays Wayne Levere Hays (May 13, 1911 – February 10, 1989) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative of Ohio, in the Democratic Party, from 1949 to 1976. He resigned from Congress after a much-publicized sex scandal. Early year ...
(1969–1970) * Romain Fandel (1970–1971) * Terrence Murphy (1971–1972) *
John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
(1972–1973) * Knud Damgaard (1973–1975) *
Wayne Hays Wayne Levere Hays (May 13, 1911 – February 10, 1989) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative of Ohio, in the Democratic Party, from 1949 to 1976. He resigned from Congress after a much-publicized sex scandal. Early year ...
(1975–1977) * Sir Geoffrey de Freitas (1977–1979) * Paul Thyness (1979–1980) * Jack Brooks (1980–1982) * Peter Corterier (1982–1983) * Sir Patrick Wall (1983–1985) * Charles McCurdy Mathias Jr. (1985–1986) * Ton Frinking (1986–1988) * Sir
Patrick Duffy Patrick Duffy (born March 17, 1949) is an American actor and director widely known for his role on the CBS primetime soap opera ''Dallas'', where he played Bobby Ewing, the youngest son of Miss Ellie, and the nicest brother of J.R. Ewing (pla ...
(1988–1990) * Charles Rose (1990–1992) *
Loïc Bouvard Loïc Bouvard (20 January 1929 – 27 November 2017) was a member of the National Assembly of France. He represented the Morbihan department, and was a member of the Union for a Popular Movement. Personal Loic Bouvard married Elizabeth Bouva ...
(1992–1994) * Karsten Voigt (1994–1996) *
William V. Roth Jr. William Victor Roth Jr. (July 22, 1921 – December 13, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Delaware. He was a veteran of World War II and a member of the Republican Party. He served from 1967 to 1970 as the lone U ...
(1996–1998) * Javier Rupérez (1998–2000) *
Rafael Estrella Rafael may refer to: * Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin * Rafael, California * Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israeli manufacturer of weapons and military technology * Hurricane Rafael, a 2012 hurricane Fiction * ''R ...
(2000–2002) *
Doug Bereuter Douglas Kent Bereuter (born October 6, 1939) is an American retired politician from the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 until 2004. He also served as the pr ...
(2002–2004) * Pierre Lellouche (2004–2006) * Bert Koenders (2006–2007) * José Lello (2007–2008) *
John S. Tanner John Sumners Tanner (born September 22, 1944) is a former American politician who served as the U.S. representative for , serving from 1989 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Since his retirement, Tanner has served as the Vice C ...
(2008–2010) *
Karl A. Lamers Karl A. Lamers (born 12 February 1951, in Duisburg) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the German Parliament from 1994 until 2021. From 2010 to 2012 he was the President of the NATO Parliame ...
(2010–2012) * Sir
Hugh Bayley Sir Hugh Nigel Edward Bayley (born 9 January 1952) is a British Labour politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for York Central, previously York and City of York, from 1992 to 2015. Early life Bayley was born in Maidenhead, Be ...
(2012–2014) *
Mike Turner Michael Ray Turner (born January 11, 1960) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Turner's district, numbered as the 3rd district from 2003 to 2013, is based in Day ...
(2014–2016) * Paolo Alli (2016–2018) * Rasa Juknevičienė (2018) *
Madeleine Moon Madeleine Moon (born 27 March 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bridgend from 2005 to 2019, when she lost her seat to the Welsh Conservative candidate Jamie Wallis. Early life Born in North ...
(2018–2019) * Attila Mesterházy (2019–2020) * Gerald Connolly (2020–2022) * Joëlle Garriaud-Maylam (2022– )


References


External links


NATO Parliamentary Assembly
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