NATO Leaders are gathering in Madrid, Spain to discuss important issues facing the Alliance. The Madrid Summit will set NATO’s strategic direction for the next decade and beyond, ensuring that the Alliance will continue to adapt to a changing world and keep its one billion people safe.

How has Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the new security reality in Europe affected NATO’s approach to deterrence and defence?

What is the Alliance doing to address other challenges, like China’s growing influence and assertiveness or the security consequences of climate change? 

What will be included in NATO’s next Strategic Concept, the blueprint for the Alliance’s future adaptation to a more competitive world where authoritarian powers try to push back against the rules-based international order?

These are just some of the important questions that NATO Leaders will discuss during the Madrid Summit.

TOPICS: View a full rundown and read background information about the key topics on the agenda.

PROGRAMME: To follow the summit in real time, explore the detailed programme, which includes news, transcripts, photos, audio and video as they happen.

At the Madrid Summit, NATO will adopt its new Strategic Concept.

This key document reaffirms NATO's values, purpose and tasks. It provides a collective assessment of the security challenges facing the Alliance and outlines the political and military tasks NATO will carry out to address them.

The Strategic Concept is the result of internal consultation among Allies and external engagement with partners, other international organisations, expert communities, youth organisations, civil society and the private sector.

Learn more about the Strategic Concept.

Spain is hosting the 2022 NATO Summit in an auspicious year – the 40th anniversary of its accession to NATO.

Spain became the 16th country to join NATO on 30 May 1982. The new member brought a lot to the table as it joined the 33-year-old Alliance – not only its military capabilities and its vital geostrategic location for Western European defence (positioned between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean), but also its diplomatic skill and political relations with Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa.

Eventually, a Spanish diplomat would serve as NATO Secretary General, guiding the Alliance through its first major peacekeeping operation and its transition from a Cold War organisation to a fully flexible security organisation engaged with new partners and prepared for new threats and challenges.

Read more about Spain's history in the Alliance on NATO Declassified.

Madrid hosted a NATO summit 25 years ago, on 8-9 July 1997.

One of the notable decisions taken by NATO Leaders at this summit was to invite the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland - the 1st post-Cold War member countries – to begin accession talks with NATO.

Check out this blast from the past website for photos and information.

Alongside the Madrid Summit, a Public Forum is bringing together stakeholders beyond the traditional security and defence community in a discussion about the future of the Alliance.

Hosted by four leading civil society organisations – the Elcano Royal Institute, the German Marshall Fund, the Munich Security Conference and the Atlantic Council – the Public Forum features experts and decision-makers from around the world to add further perspectives to the Summit.

The event is open for registration of online audiences from across the globe, who will be able to join the interactive discussions. It will also be livestreamed on NATO YouTube.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg set out his priorities for the upcoming Madrid Summit during a speech on Wednesday (22 June 2022). Speaking at an event organised by Politico, Mr Stoltenberg said: “We will take decisions to strengthen our Alliance, and keep it agile in this more dangerous world.”

NATO Defence Ministers concluded two days of preparations for the upcoming Madrid Summit on Thursday (16 June 2022). Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Summit would address key areas including strengthened deterrence and defence; support for Ukraine and other partners at risk; a new NATO Strategic Concept; better burden-sharing and resourcing; and Finland and Sweden’s historic applications for membership.

Ahead of the 2022 NATO Summit in Madrid, NATO commissioned a survey across all 30 Allies to understand perceptions of Allied citizens, including on support for NATO membership, collective defence, and the transatlantic bond. Overall, support for NATO remains strong and continues to rise.

Explore background information connected to the Summit

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