EU - NATO cooperation: NATO Info

The NATO Secretary General issues an Annual Report every year. The Annual Report reflects the evolving security environment and covers the Alliance’s key decisions and activities in the previous year. The Annual Report also includes the details of national defence expenditures for the NATO Allies and is part of NATO’s commitment to transparency and accountability.

See in particular page 19:

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte participated in a gathering of the EU College of Commissioners today (31 January 2025) hosted by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at La Grande Abbaye de La Ramée in Belgium. The Secretary General welcomed the opportunity to join the conversation, highlighting the value of increased cooperation between NATO and the EU.

Stepping up NATO-EU cooperation is essential.

Allied Command Operations (ACO), which is responsible for the planning and execution of all NATO operations, is executing Baltic Sentry in the Baltic Sea to deter any future attempts by a state or non-state actor to damage critical undersea infrastructure there.
The multi-domain activity, which will continue for an undisclosed amount of time, is in response to damage to undersea cables connecting Estonia and Finland on Dec. 25, and follows a declaration of solidarity by Allies with the two countries on Dec. 30, and the Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit in Helsinki, Finland today.

The European Union (EU) is an essential partner for NATO. The two organisations share common values, strategic interests and a majority of member countries. They work side by side in crisis management, on capability development, in addressing hybrid threats and challenges posed by growing strategic competition, as well as in building the capacities of their common partners in the east and south.
Please also refer to the "NATO – EU Relations : factsheet" (2021)

On Tuesday, 19 November 2024, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will participate in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union (EU) in Defence Ministers’ format. The meeting will take place at the Europa building of the Council of the EU, in Brussels.

Secretary General Rutte outlined his three priorities for the Alliance. "The first is to keep NATO strong and ensure our defences remain effective and credible, against all threats" he began. "My second priority is to step up our support for Ukraine and bring it ever closer to NATO, because there can be no lasting security in Europe without a strong, independent Ukraine" he continued, adding that his "third priority is to strengthen our partnerships" in a more interconnected world.

NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Operations, Tom Goffus, joined Mr. Stefano Tomat, Civilian Operations Commander at the European Union External Action Service, in separate meetings with the chief negotiators of Belgrade and Pristina. The meetings took place in the margins of the EU-facilitated Dialogue hosted by the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkans issues, Mr. Miroslav Lajcak.

The Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) is NATO’s principal civil emergency response mechanism. It is available to all Allies and partner countries and can support them with both response and preparedness for natural and human-made disasters and other emergencies.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg underlined the enduring significance of NATO at a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) hosted by the UK government on Thursday (18 July 2024), stating that the “transatlantic Alliance is the cornerstone for European security.”

On Wednesday (26 June 2024), the North Atlantic Council decided to appoint Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the next Secretary General of NATO, succeeding Jens Stoltenberg. Mr Rutte will assume his functions as Secretary General from 1 October 2024, when Mr Stoltenberg’s term expires after ten years at the helm of the Alliance.
See also the new NATO Secretary General page (1 October 2024)

NATO collects defence expenditure data from Allies and publishes it on a regular basis. Each Ally’s Ministry of Defence reports current and estimated future defence expenditure according to an agreed definition. The amounts represent payments by a national government that have been or will be made during the course of the fiscal year to meet the needs of its armed forces, those of Allies or of the Alliance. In the figures and tables that follow, NATO also uses economic and demographic information available from the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission (DG ECFIN) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The Hungarian parliament has approved Sweden’s long-pending bid to join NATO, putting an end to over 18 months of delays. This historic move, following a decisive vote on Monday, signifies a major stride toward Sweden’s integration into the trans-Atlantic Alliance.

Finland became NATO’s newest member (4 April 2023), upon depositing its instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty with the United States at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. NATO Allies signed Finland’s Accession Protocol on 5 July 2022, after which all 30 national parliaments voted to ratify the country’s membership.

Senior officials from NATO and the European Union met on Thursday (16 March 2023) to launch a new NATO-EU Task Force on Resilience of Critical Infrastructure. Cooperation to strengthen critical infrastructure has become even more important in light of the sabotage against the Nord Stream pipelines, and Russia’s weaponisation of energy as part of its war of aggression against Ukraine.

NATO and the EU agreed to create a taskforce on resilience and critical infrastructure protection, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Wednesday (11 January 2023) in Brussels.

issued by the NATO Heads of State and Government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.
"The European Union remains a unique and essential partner for NATO. NATO-EU cooperation has reached unprecedented levels. Practical cooperation has been strengthened and expanded on space, cyber, climate and defence, as well as emerging and disruptive technologies. In the context of Ukraine, NATO-EU cooperation has become more significant. NATO recognises the value of a stronger and more capable European defence that contributes positively to transatlantic and global security and is complementary to, and interoperable with NATO."

The Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty, signed at Washington on April 4, 1949,
Being satisfied that the security of the North Atlantic area will be enhanced by the accession of the Republic of Finland to that Treaty...

The Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty, signed at Washington on April 4, 1949,
Being satisfied that the security of the North Atlantic area will be enhanced by the accession of the Kingdom of Sweden to that Treaty...

Senior officials from NATO and the European Union met on Thursday (16 March 2023) to launch a new NATO-EU Task Force on Resilience of Critical Infrastructure. Cooperation to strengthen critical infrastructure has become even more important in light of the sabotage against the Nord Stream pipelines, and Russia’s weaponisation of energy as part of its war of aggression against Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met on Tuesday (10 January 2023) at NATO Headquarters to sign the third Joint Declaration on NATO-European Union cooperation.

Issued by NATO Heads of State and Government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Madrid 29 June 2022.
"Taking into account our unprecedented level of cooperation with the European Union, we will continue to further strengthen our strategic partnership in a spirit of full mutual openness, transparency, complementarity, and respect for the organisations’ different mandates, decision-making autonomy and institutional integrity, and as agreed by the two organisations. Our common resolve in responding to Russia’s war against Ukraine highlights the strength of this unique and essential partnership."

The EU and NATO face growing and complex threats and challenges, including those stemming from geostrategic competition affecting the security and stability of the Euro-Atlantic area. Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine continues to pose an unprecedented threat to European, transatlantic and global security, and undermines international peace and stability.

NATO and the EU continue to be faced with the gravest threat to Euro-Atlantic security in decades. Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine violates international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter, and gravely undermines European and international peace and stability.

NATO and the EU share common strategic interests. In a spirit of complementarity, both organisations consult and work together to prevent and resolve crises and armed conflicts.
The decision to cooperate on security issues goes back to 24 January 2001 when the NATO Secretary General and the EU Presidency exchanged letters defining the scope of cooperation and the modalities of consultation between the two organisations.

Declare that the relationship between the European Union and NATO will be founded on the following principles:
Partnership: ensuring that the crisis management activities of the two organisations are mutually reinforcing, while recognising that the European Union and NATO are organisations of a different nature;Effective mutual consultation, dialogue, cooperation and transparency; Equality and due regard for the decision-making autonomy and interests of the European Union and NATO; Respect for the interests of the Member States of the European Union and NATO; Respect for the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, which underlie the Treaty on European Union and the Washington Treaty, in order to provide one of the indispensable foundations for a stable Euro- Atlantic security environment, based on the commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes, in which no country would be able to intimidate or coerce any other through the threat or use of force, and also based on respect for treaty rights and obligations as well as refraining from unilateral actions; Coherent, transparent and mutually reinforcing development of the military capability requirements common to the two organisations;

Press Communiqué M-NAC-1(96)63.
The 1996 Berlin ministerial envisioned building "a European Security and Defense Identity within the Alliance which will enable all European Allies to make a more coherent and effective contribution to the missions and activities of the Alliance as an expression of our shared responsibilities" and "to reinforce the transatlantic partnership".