The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and President Obama

NATO embodies the transatlantic link by which the security of North America is tied to the security of Europe. For much of its history, NATO’s central focus has been providing for the immediate defence and security of its member countries, based on the principle that no Ally has to rely on its national capabilities alone in dealing with challenges to its security. Particularly since the end of the Cold War, NATO has also seen its core defence role in a broader context. NATO contributes to achieving a stable Euro-Atlantic security environment, provides a key forum for discussing on a transatlantic basis issues affecting Allies’ interests, maintains capabilities for conflict prevention and crisis response, and promotes a network of partnerships, practical and political, with other countries in the Euro-Atlantic area and beyond. 

As the European Union has over the last decade developed its own Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), NATO (and particularly those Allies who are members of both organisations) has needed to define its relationship to ESDP, to optimise coordination and minimise risks of confusion or duplication. The transition in late 2004 from NATO’s Stabilisation Force in Bosnia (SFOR) to the EU-led Operation Althea (EUFOR) offered one example of how positively the relationship could work.  Following Kosovo's declaration of independence on 17 February 2008, the existing UN mission, UNMIK, is winding down. Many of its tasks in the Rule of Law arena will be taken on by the newly agreed EU mission, EULEX, who will need to work closely on the ground with NATO's mission in Kosovo, KFOR. This will once again bring together the two organisations in the common pursuit of security and stability in the Balkans.

NATO's Summit meeting at Bucharest in April 2008 marked a further stage in re-establishing consensus among Allies on the Alliance's role in the evolving global security context, and in particular on the way forward for the NATO operation in Afghanistan. It also marked a further stage in acceptance of the need for the Alliance to develop its contacts with other international actors, to permit a more comprehensive approach to resolving crisis or post-conflict situations.