North Atlantic Council

This article is about the NATO body. For the US think tank, see Atlantic Council.
North Atlantic Council
Coat of arms or logo
History
Founded 4 April 1949
Leadership
Deputy Secretary-General
Seats
Meeting place
NATO headquarters
Brussels, Belgium
Website
http://www.nato.int/

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 Atlantic Treaty, and it is the only body in NATO that derives its authority explicitly from the treaty.

Powers and duties

The North Atlantic Treaty gave the NAC the power to set up subsidiary bodies for various policy functions, including a defense committee to implement other parts of the treaty. Since 1952, the NAC has been in permanent session. The NAC can be held at the Permanent Representative Level (PermReps), or can be composed of member states' Ministers of State, Defense, or Heads of Government. The NAC has the same powers regardless of the formation under which it meets. The NAC meets twice a week: every Tuesday, for an informal lunch discussion; and every Wednesday for a decision-taking session. Usually, meetings occur amongst the permanent representatives who are the senior permanent member of each delegation and is generally a senior civil servant or an experienced ambassador (and holding that diplomatic rank). The list of permanent representatives may be found on the NATO website.

The 31 members of NATO have diplomatic missions to the organization through embassies in Belgium. The meetings of the NAC are chaired by the Secretary General and, when decisions have to be made, action is agreed upon on the basis of unanimity and common accord. There is no voting or decision by majority. Each nation represented at the NAC table or on any of its subordinate committees retains complete sovereignty and responsibility for its own decisions.

An overview of the NATO Military Command Structure (NCS):

Liaison:        Provides advice and support to the NAC
Political strategic level:
North Atlantic Council
Secretary General of NATO
Brussels, BE 		International Staff
Brussels, BE
Military strategic level:


Chair of the NATO Military Committee

International Military Staff
NATO HQ, Brussels, BE
Strategic commands:


SACEUR
(ACO, SHAPE)
Mons, BE

SACT
(Allied Command Transformation, HQ SACT)
Norfolk, US
Tactical commands: Transformational commands:
Allied Air Command Allied Air Command
Ramstein, DE 		Joint Warfare Centre Joint Warfare Centre
Stavanger, NO
Allied Maritime Command Allied Maritime Command
Northwood, GB 		Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre
Lisbon, PT
Allied Land Command Allied Land Command
İzmir, TR 		Joint Force Training Centre Joint Force Training Centre
Bydgoszcz, PL
Misc.:
Joint Support and Enabling Command Ulm, DE
Operational commands: NATO Communication and Information Systems Group Communications & Information Systems Group Mons, BE Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO
Oeiras, PT
Joint Force Command Norfolk
Norfolk, US 		Allied Joint Force Command Naples Allied Joint Force Command Naples
Naples, IT 		Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum
Brunssum, NL
Response Force: Multinational Corps Southeast
Sibiu, RO 		Multinational Corps Northeast
Szczecin, PL


Composition

Each member nation is normally represented on the North Atlantic Council by an Ambassador or Permanent Representative supported by a national delegation composed of advisers and officials who represent their country on different NATO committees.

North Atlantic Council
Portrait Name Country Incumbent since
Ilir Gjoni Albania September 2023
Ariadne Petridis Belgium 16 August 2022
Nikolay Milkov Bulgaria 10 May 2023
David Angell Canada 12 February 2019
Mario Nobilo Croatia 5 September 2017
Jakub Landovský Czechia 3 October 2022
Lone Dencker Wisborg Denmark 2 September 2022
Jüri Luik Estonia 2 September 2022
Piritta Asunmaa Finland
Muriel Domenach France September 2019
Géza Andreas von Geyr Germany August 2023
Ioannis-Miltiadis Nicolaidis Greece
István Balogh Hungary 25 January 2023
Hermann Ingólfsson Iceland 15 December 2021
Marco Peronaci Italy
Māris Riekstiņš Latvia 1 September 2023
Deividas Matulionis Lithuania 27 May 2020
Stephan Frédéric Müller Luxembourg 15 December 2021
Milena Kalezić Montenegro November 2023
Thijs van der Plas Netherlands 8 August 2022
Dane Taleski North Macedonia
Anita Nergaard Norway September 2022
Tomasz Szatkowski Poland 23 July 2019
Pedro Costa Pereira Portugal 9 December 2019
Dan Neculăescu Romania February 2022
Peter Bátor Slovakia 8 February 2021
Andrej Benedejčič Slovenia 24 November 2023
Federico Torres Muro Spain 24 November 2022
Zeki Levent Gümrükçü Turkey 16 January 2023
David Quarrey United Kingdom 25 April 2022
Julianne Smith United States December 6, 2021

See also