The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is an inter-parliamentary organisation that brings together legislators from NATO member countries to consider security-related issues of common interest and concern. Since the 1980s, it has assumed additional roles by integrating into its work parliamentarians from NATO partner countries in Europe and beyond.

The NATO PA was established in 1955 to engage parliamentarians in transatlantic issues and help build parliamentary and public consensus in support of Alliance policies.
Since the 1980s, it has broadened its reach to develop close relations with political leaders from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as from the Middle East and North Africa.

The Assembly focuses on major security and policy issues facing the Alliance, producing reports that are adopted by majority vote.
Five committees and eight sub-committees carry out its work and it holds approximately 40 activities a year.

Member and Associate countries
The NATO PA is made up of 274 delegates from the 32 NATO member countries. Each delegation is based on the country's size and reflects the political composition of the parliament, therefore representing a broad spectrum of political opinion. Delegates are nominated by their parliaments according to their national procedures.

In addition to these NATO country delegates, delegates from 10 associate countries, four Mediterranean associate countries, as well as observers from eight other countries take part in its activities.

Inter-parliamentary assemblies such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly and the Western European Union Assembly also send delegations.

The European Parliament is entitled to send 10 delegates to Assembly Sessions and can participate in most committee and sub-committee activities.

Malta is an Associate Member of the Assembly.

Working by committee
Most of the Assembly’s work is carried out by its five committees: the Committee on Democracy and Security; the Defence and Security Committee; the Economics and Security Committee; the Political Committee; and the Science and Technology Committee.

There are several sub-committees, which meet during the year on fact-finding missions designed to gather information for sub-committee and committee reports. Sub-committee reports, like those produced directly for the committees, are amended and adopted by majority vote in the committees. Each year, the NATO PA typically holds approximately 40 activities. These include Plenary Sessions, a Standing Committee meeting, several Rose-Roth Seminars, Mediterranean Seminars, sub-committee meetings and a variety of other meetings.

The NATO PA is headed by a President, who is a parliamentarian from a NATO member country. The headquarters of the Assembly comprises a small International Secretariat based in Brussels, Belgium and is overseen by a Secretary General. The International Secretariat performs a dual function: on the one hand, it conducts much of the research and analysis necessary for the substantive output of the Assembly's committees, and on the other hand, it provides the administrative support required to organise sessions, seminars, committee meetings, and other Assembly activities.

In addition, the International Secretariat maintains a close working relationship with NATO, other international organisations and research institutes. It also provides briefings on NATO PA activities and concerns to visiting parliamentary groups, journalists and academics.
 

The evolution of the NATO PA
The idea to engage parliamentarians in transatlantic issues 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 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 (NAC) authorised the NATO Secretary General to study how to achieve closer cooperation between the two bodies. As a result of these deliberations, 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.