NATO Parliamentary Assembly
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It consists of delegates from the parliaments of the 32 NATO member countries as well as from associate and partner countries. Its current president is Marcos Perestrello from Portugal. Its current secretary general is Benedetta Berti who has been in this position since 13th October 2025.
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 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 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 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.
On November 21, 2022, at Madrid in the midst of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Parliamentary Assembly recognized Russia as "terrorist state" and called for the creation of a special international tribunal. Tomáš Valášek, the head of the Slovakian delegation, said that the "resolution names Russia the most direct threat to Euro-Atlantic security... It states clearly that the state of Russia, under its current regime, is a terrorist one."
At the NATO PA meeting on May 27, 2024, in Sofia, Bulgaria, a resolution seems to have been passed by 24 of the 32 allied nations "to no longer accept restrictions on the use of Western weapons against legitimate targets on Russian territory".
Role
Bringing together legislators from all the member states of the Atlantic Alliance, the NATO PA provides a link between NATO 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 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 and has continued to play this role for all further accessions of new members.
Functioning
The NATO PA consists of 274 delegates from the 32 NATO member countries. Delegates from 10 associate countries; the European Parliament; 4 regional partner and Mediterranean associate member countries; as well as parliamentary observers from 8 other parliaments; and 2 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.
Membership by participating state
The 274 delegates from the 32 member states are as follows; the final columns show the number of delegates from Associate Member states.| Member state | No. of Delegates |
| Albania | 4 |
| Belgium | 7 |
| Bulgaria | 6 |
| Canada | 12 |
| Croatia | 5 |
| Czechia | 7 |
| Denmark | 5 |
| Estonia | 3 |
| Finland | 5 |
| France | 18 |
| Germany | 18 |
| Member state | No. of Delegates |
| Greece | 7 |
| Hungary | 7 |
| Iceland | 3 |
| Italy | 18 |
| Latvia | 3 |
| Lithuania | 4 |
| Luxembourg | 3 |
| Montenegro | 3 |
| Netherlands | 7 |
| North Macedonia | 3 |
| Member state | No. of Delegates |
| Norway | 5 |
| Poland | 12 |
| Portugal | 7 |
| Romania | 10 |
| Slovakia | 5 |
| Slovenia | 3 |
| Spain | 12 |
| Sweden | 5 |
| Turkey | 18 |
| United Kingdom | 18 |
| United States | 36 |
| Associate Member | No. of Delegates |
| Armenia | 3 |
| Austria | 5 |
| Azerbaijan | 5 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3 |
| European Parliament | 10 |
| Georgia | 4 |
| Kosovo | 3 |
| Malta | 3 |
| Moldova | 3 |
| Serbia | 5 |
| Switzerland | 5 |
| Ukraine | 12 |
Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Serbia, Switzerland and Ukraine have Associate status sending varying numbers of non-voting delegates to the assembly. Kosovo and Malta were given associate status in March 2024 by the Assembly's Standing Committee and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Ukraine were designated NATO candidates. Additionally Algeria, Israel, Jordan, and Morocco have the status of Regional Partner and Mediterranean Associates each with 3 non-voting delegates. Finally, a number of other states; Australia, Egypt, Japan, Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, Palestinian National Council, Tunisia and regional organizations; OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 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: Democracy and 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.
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 defense and the military.