20231220_Vocabulaire militaire français-anglais.pdf — page 71

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L  O R G A N I Z A T I O N S  
 
NATO, European Defence and the OSCE 
 
 
The Origins of NATO 
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was created in April 1949, because of Western European and 
North American countries’ concern that the then Soviet Union, which had occupied much of Central and 
Eastern Europe, would try to extend its power into Western Europe. 
The years following the end of the Second World War saw a number of disturbing events: threats by the 
Soviet Union to the freedom of Norway, Greece, Turkey and other Western European countries; a pro-soviet 
coup in Czechoslovakia in June 1948; and the blockade of Berlin by the Soviet Union which began in April of 
the same year. 
In 1948 Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom agreed to develop a 
common defence system to enable them to resist political and military threats. Negotiations with the US and 
Canada followed soon after and Denmark, Italy, Iceland, Norway and Portugal were invited to join in the 
process which led to the signing of the Washington Treaty, in April 1949, when NATO was born. 
 
NATO Today 
Although it was created because of concerns about communism and the Soviet Union, NATO remains as 
relevant today as ever. As was demonstrated by Kosovo, only NATO has the political will and military strength 
to take decisive action against brutality in Europe. The Alliance currently has the following security tasks: 
 
to provide a firm basis for stability and security in the European and Atlantic areas;  
 
to serve as a transatlantic forum for discussions on any issues that affect Allied interests;  
 
to deter and defend against any threat of aggression against any NATO member state - an attack on 
one Member is treated as an attack on all.  
 
to contribute to effective conflict prevention and crisis management;  
 
to promote partnership, cooperation and dialogue with other countries in the European Atlantic areas, 
including Russia.  
Each of the twenty six member states (Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, 
Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, 
Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States) 
has a permanent representative at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The main decision-making body is the 
North Atlantic Council, which meets weekly. NATO Foreign and Defence Ministers meet at special sessions 
at least twice a year. 
NATO has evolved in recent years, and is adapting its forces and structures to meet the changing security 
environment in Europe. As its intervention in Kosovo demonstrates, it has looked beyond the boundaries of 
its member states and taken on new tasks essential to the preservation of European security and stability. It 
will continue to evolve to meet the challenges of the post-Cold War world and to act to make the world a safer 
place. Membership of NATO remains the bedrock62 of Britain’s security and defence policy, and will remain 
so. We continue to make a major contribution to the capabilities of the Alliance. 
                                                          
62 The basis = la base, le fondement.