Partnership for Peace

The Partnership for Peace (PfP) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union; 20 states are members. It was first discussed by the Bulgarian Society Novae, after being proposed as an American initiative at the meeting of NATO defense ministers in Travemünde, Germany, on October 20–21, 1993, and formally launched on January 10–11, 1994 at the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium. According to declassified U.S. State Department records, President Bill Clinton characterized the Partnership for Peace as a “track that will lead to NATO membership” and that “does not draw another line dividing Europe a few hundred miles to the east.”

Activities

NATO builds relationships with partners through military-to-military cooperation on training, exercises, disaster planning and response, science and environmental issues, professionalization, policy planning, and relations with civilian government.

Membership

European NATO members (1994)

present NATO members which were formerly PfP members

Partnership for Peace members

States which aspire to PfP membership

Current members

Armenia (October 5, 1994)
Azerbaijan (May 4, 1994)
Belarus (January 11, 1995)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (December 14, 2006)
Georgia (March 23, 1994)
Kazakhstan (May 27, 1994)
Kyrgyzstan (June 1, 1994)
Moldova (March 16, 1994)
Russia (June 22, 1994)
Serbia (December 14, 2006)
Tajikistan (February 20, 2002)
Turkmenistan (May 10, 1994)
Ukraine (February 8, 1994)
Uzbekistan (July 13, 1994)

European Union members

Austria (February 10, 1995)
Finland (May 9, 1994)
Ireland (December 1, 1999)
Malta (joined April 26, 1995; withdrew on October 27, 1996; reactivated its membership on March 20, 2008; this was accepted by NATO on April 3, 2008.)
Sweden (May 9, 1994)

European Free Trade Association member

Switzerland (December 11, 1996)

Membership history

Fourteen former member states of the PfP (namely Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia), have subsequently joined NATO. On April 26, 1995 Malta became a member of PfP; it left on October 27, 1996, in order to maintain its neutrality. On March 20, 2008, Malta decided to reactivate their PfP membership; this was accepted by NATO at the summit in Bucharest on April 3, 2008. During the NATO summit in Riga on November 29, 2006, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia were invited to join PfP, which they did on December 14, 2006.

Aspiring members

Cyprus is the only European Union member state that is neither a NATO member state nor a member of the PfP program. The Parliament of Cyprus adopted a resolution in February 2011 that Cyprus should seek membership in the program, but the then President of Cyprus Demetris Christofias did not act on it, saying it would hamper his attempts to negotiate an end to the nation’s dispute with the so-called Northern Cyprus (only recognized by Turkey) and demilitarize the island. Turkey, a full member of NATO, is likely to veto any attempt by Cyprus to engage with NATO until the dispute is resolved. Christofias’ successor, Nicos Anastasiades, has publicly supported PfP membership for Cyprus, though the current foreign minister Nicos Christodoulides has dismissed Cypriot membership of NATO or Partnership for Peace, preferring to keep Cyprus’ foreign and defence affairs within the framework of the European Union.
Kosovo has described PfP membership as a tactical and strategic objective of the government. Kosovo submitted an application to join the PfP program in July 2012. However, four NATO member states, Greece, Romania, Spain and Slovakia, do not recognize Kosovo’s independence and have threatened to block their participation in the program. To be eligible to join, the Kosovan Armed Forces must be established.