Enlargement
NATO has an open door policy on enlargement. Any European country in a position to further the principles of the North Atlantic Treaty and contribute to security in the Euro-Atlantic area can become a member of the Alliance, when invited to do so by the existing member countries.
At the Bucharest Summit in April 2008, Albania and Croatia were invited to begin accession talks with NATO. Allied leaders also agreed to invite the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia1 as soon as a mutually acceptable solution to the issue over the country’s name has been reached with Greece. All three countries have been participating in NATO’s Membership Action Plan (MAP) for a number of years to prepare for possible membership.
Allied leaders agreed at Bucharest that Georgia and Ukraine – which are currently engaged in an Intensified Dialogue with NATO on their membership aspirations and related reforms – will be members in future. Both countries’ applications to join the MAP process will be reviewed by NATO foreign ministers in December 2008. Intensified Dialogues were also offered to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro at the summit.
NATO’s most recent intake of new members took place on 29 March 2004, when seven new countries formally joined the Alliance: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. This was the fifth, and the largest, round of enlargement in the Alliance’s history.
What does this mean in
practice?
Aspirant countries are expected to participate in the Membership
Action Plan to prepare for potential membership and demonstrate their ability
to meet the obligations and commitments of possible future membership. They
must then be officially invited by NATO to begin accession talks with the
Alliance.
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How did this policy evolve?
Since the Alliance was created in 1949, its membership
has grown from the 12 founders to today’s 26 members. Enlargement is
in fact an on-going and dynamic process, based upon Article 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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Which NATO bodies have
a central role?
Invitations to join the Alliance are issued by the North
Atlantic Council, NATO’s principal decision-making body. Relations
with partner and aspirant countries are maintained by NATO’s international
staff as well as specialized committees, subordinate to the Council.
Further details on this topic