Spain and NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was founded with the signing of the 1949 Treaty of Washington, in which twelve countries on both sides of the Atlantic pledged to defend each other in the event of an attack against any of them.

Objectives of the organisation

NATO seeks to guarantee the freedom and security of its members by political and military means. As established in Article 5 of the Treaty of Washington, “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all (…).”

This is the principle of collective defence, which has only been invoked once in the history of the Organization; in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 in the United States.

Composition and membership

Any other European State that is in a position to:

Promote the development of the principles of this Treaty.
Contribute to the security of the North Atlantic region may join the organisation (Article 10 of the Washington Treaty).

The Dutchman Mark Rutte is the current Secretary General of the organisation.

Today, the organisation is composed of 32 Member States (twelve founding countries (United States, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, the United Kingdom and Portugal), Greece, Turkey (which joined in 1952), the Federal Republic of Germany (1955), Spain (1982), Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic (1999), Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (2004), Albania, Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020), Finland (2023) and Sweden (2024)).

In addition, the organisation develops cooperation links in various fields: Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC); Mediterranean Dialogue (MD); Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI); and with "partners around the world" (“Partners across the globe”).

Minister Albares participates in the meeting of Atlantic Alliance foreign ministers on 3 and 4 April 2025 in Brussels. MAUC

How does Spain participate?

Spain became NATO's 16th member on 30 May 1982 and joined the integrated military structure in 1999.

Spain has always been a reliable, secure and committed ally of the Atlantic Alliance and works in the Atlantic Council to ensure that our interests are taken into account, with particular attention to partners on the southern flank.

Spain's commitment to the Alliance was given special recognition with the holding of the NATO Summit 2022 in Madrid, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of our adhering to the organisation, which culminated in the adoption of the Action Plan for the Southern Flank at the Washington Summit in July 2024 and the subsequent appointment of the Spanish diplomat Javier Colomina as the Secretary General's representative for the Southern Neighbourhood.

In Spain, NATO has its headquarters at the Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) in Torrejón de Ardoz. Spain is also currently providing NATO with the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Centre of Excellence, located at Hoyo de Manzanares (Madrid) and the Rapid Deployable Corps in Bétera (Valencia), which comprises an International Military Staff structure and is authorised to carry out its duties as General Headquarters of the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps. Spain makes these General Headquarters available to NATO on a permanent basis. Spain makes an important contribution to the NATO Ballistic Missile Defence System, with four US AEGIS destroyers deployed at the Naval Station in Rota.

Within the framework of NATO's current deployment, Spain participates in the stand-by fleets and has a strong presence on the eastern flank:

The Spanish Army is part of the Advanced Presence (land) mission in Slovakia with its largest contingent, ranking first out of six countries.
Spain has its second largest military deployment in Romania (DEPLOYMENT-F-E).
Spain participates in the battle Group in Latvia in the Advanced Presence (land) mission.
The Spanish army is also deployed in Estonia and Latvia.
In Turkey, Spain is participating in the defence of the territory with the deployment of a Patriot anti-aircraft battery.
Outside Europe, troops are deployed in Iraq (Spain participates in training and capacity-building activities for the Iraqi Armed Forces) and in the Mediterranean and Atlantic (Spain participates in the maritime security operation “Sea Guardian”)

Meeting of Atlantic Alliance foreign ministers with Mark Rutte as Secretary General of the Alliance. MAUC

Minister Albares participates in the meeting of Atlantic Alliance foreign ministers with Mark Rutte as Secretary General of the Alliance. MAUC

Southern Neighbourhood

Throughout NATO's history, a number of partnerships have been forged with countries bordering the organisation but it was at the Vilnius Summit in 2023 that it was decided to strengthen these engagements with countries on NATO's southern flank and thus work together to address the threats, challenges and opportunities in the region.

At the Washington Summit in 2024 the Southern Neighbourhood Action Plan was launched, proposing concrete foundations for addressing the challenges in the region through a more strategic and results-oriented approach.

To ensure the implementation of these priorities reflected in the action plan, the partners propose the appointment of a special representative of the Secretary General for the Southern Neighbourhood. The NATO Secretary General appoints Spanish diplomat Javier Colomina as his Special Representative for the Southern Neighbourhood in July 2024.

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