The North Atlantic Council (abbr. NAC, French: Conseil de l'Atlantique nord) 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.
North Atlantic Council
Type
Type
Committee
of the NATO
History
Founded
4 April 1949; 76 years ago (1949-04-04)
Leadership
Secretary General
Mark Rutte
Deputy Secretary-General
Radmila Šekerinska
Structure
Seats
32 states:
Albania
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Montenegro
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
Joint committees
20 reporting to NAC:
Deputies Committee
Political Committee
Partnerships and Cooperative Security Committee
Defence Policy and Planning Committee
Committee on Proliferation
Digital Policy Committee
Operations Policy Committee
High Level Task Force on Conventional Arms Control
Verification Coordinating Committee
Conference of National Armaments Directors
Committee for Standardization
Logistics Committee
Resource Policy and Planning Board
Integrated Air and Missile Defence Policy Committee
Aviation Committee
Resilience Committee
Committee on Public Diplomacy
Council Operations and Exercises Committee
Security Committee
Civilian Intelligence Committee
Archives Committee
Authority
Principal political decision-making body
Meeting place
NATO headquarters Brussels, Belgium
Website
www.nato.int/
Footnotes
Historical meeting venues
Palais de Chaillot (April 1952 (1952-04)-December 1959 (1959-12))
Quartier de la Porte-Dauphine (fr), Paris (December 1959 (1959-12)-1967 (1967))
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 32 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.
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
Heidi Hulan
Canada
6 June 2024
Mario Nobilo
Croatia
5 September 2017
David Konecký
Czech Republic
31 July 2024
Lone Dencker Wisborg
Denmark
2 September 2022
Jüri Luik
Estonia
2 September 2022
Piritta Asunmaa
Finland
September 2023
David Cvach
France
August 2024
Géza Andreas von Geyr
Germany
August 2023
Vasiliki Gounari
Greece
István Balogh
Hungary
25 January 2023
Hermann Ingólfsson
Iceland
15 December 2021
Marco Peronaci
Italy
Māris Riekstiņš
Latvia
1 September 2023
Darius Jauniškis
Lithuania
18 April 2025
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
Jacek Najder
Poland
2025
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
Jan Knutsson
Sweden
25 August 2024
Basat Öztürk
Turkey
29 May 2025
Angus Lapsley
United Kingdom
April 2025
Matthew Whitaker
United States
25 April 2025
See also
Secretary General of NATO
NATO Military Committee
International Military Staff
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