NATO structure and decision-making policy

The Permanent Representative has the rank of Ambassador and is assisted by a national delegation of diplomatic staff and security advisers. The Council meets at ambassadorial level at least once a week, and usually & ndash; even more often. As a rule, the Council meets at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense twice a year, and once every two years & ndash; at the level of heads of state and government.

 

Key policy and decision-making institutions:

• NATO Summits
• North Atlantic Council
• NATO Defense Policy and Planning Committee
• NATO Nuclear Planning Group
• NATO Military Committee.

The highest civilian official of the Alliance is the Secretary General of NATO , who chairs the meetings of the NATO North Atlantic Council and promotes consensus among Allies. The NATO Secretary General is elected from among prominent politicians and diplomats of Allies for a four-year term. In managing NATO's activities, the Secretary General relies on the International Staff, which employs well-known experts and officials from NATO members. The current Secretary General of NATO is Jens Stoltenberg, who has been in office since 1 October 2014.

NATO does not have its own armed forces. Most of the forces at NATO's disposal remain under national command and control at all times, unless NATO members deploy these forces to carry out specific NATO-led tasks, from collective security to new missions such as peacekeeping and peacekeeping operations. NATO's political and military structures provide the long-term planning needed to enable national units to carry out these tasks, as well as implement organizational arrangements for joint command, control, training and exercises.

NATO Parliamentary Assembly

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly (formerly known as the North Atlantic Assembly) is an inter-parliamentary organization that has been a forum since 1955 where parliamentarians from Allies and Partner countries meet to discuss issues of mutual interest. In recent years, and in line with new geopolitical changes and realities, both the membership and the powers of the Assembly have expanded significantly.

The main purpose of the Assembly's activities is to promote consensus on issues of interest to the Alliance and its partners. The Assembly enables Allied legislators to bring to the attention of NATO governments and bodies issues of concern to a country, as well as to inform them about different national and regional approaches to many key issues. Members of the Assembly also have the opportunity to use in the parliaments of their countries the experience and information gained from participating in the activities of the Assembly, which contributes to the interests and recommendations of the Alliance.

The Assembly is completely independent of NATO , but provides a link between parliaments and the Alliance, enabling governments to take the Alliance's interests into account when formulating national legislation. The Assembly took an active part in the ratification process of the Accession Protocols signed in late 1997, culminating in the accession of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to NATO in May 1999.

Delegates to the Parliamentary Assembly are appointed by the parliaments of the countries in accordance with their own procedures on the basis of party representation. Thus, the Assembly reflects a wide range of political opinions.

Plenary sessions of the Assembly are held twice a year. Meetings are held alternately in Allies.

Assembly structure:

• Political Committee;
• Defense and Security Committee;
• Economic and Security Committee;
• Science and Technology Committee;
• Civil Security Committee;
• Mediterranean and Middle East Task Force.

These committees conduct research and are a forum for discussion. The committees study and investigate all relevant issues related to their competence. Committee meetings are held regularly throughout the year. The committees are accountable to the plenary sessions of the Assembly. The International Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly is located in Brussels, which is a subsidiary body to ensure the work of the committees.

The role of the Assembly in developing relations with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is defined in the 1997 Charter on a Special Partnership, which calls for enhanced dialogue and cooperation between the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Particular attention is paid to helping to achieve the main goal of the PfP - the introduction of democratic control over the armed forces. At the same time, the Assembly complements the work of the Alliance within the framework of the Euroatl Council Ancient Partnership (EAPC) and the Partnership for Peace (PfP). The purpose of such activities of the NATO PA is to provide information and recommendations that will help the parliaments of Partner countries to more effectively influence the development of defense policy in their countries and ensure real civilian democratic control over their armed forces.

An important information component of NATO PA cooperation is the Rose Roth program. The program was initiated by former President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Senator William Roth (USA) and former Congressman Charles Rose (USA). The main task of the program is to hold seminars, conferences and other forums related to the problems of Central and Eastern Europe. As a rule, the subject of these measures concerns the civil-military aspects of cooperation, in particular, democratic control of the armed forces both within the Alliance and in relations with partner countries. The purpose of the seminars and conferences is to inform their participants about the need to involve parliaments in the processes of defense planning, budgeting and reform of the armed forces.

Another component of the program is the involvement of experts from Central and Eastern Europe to work in the International Staff of the Assembly. To this end, general education and information programs are held annually for the staff of the secretariats of the national parliaments of Central and Eastern Europe.

Source link:

https://ukraine-nato.mfa.gov.ua/ua / about-nato / how-nato-works