Partnership for Peace

Partnership for Peace (PFP), program established in 1994 to strengthen relations between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. NATO was founded in 1949 by the United States and Western Europe as a common defense alliance against the expansion in Europe of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

After the Cold War ended, the Warsaw Pact, a defense alliance formed in 1955 between the USSR and its Eastern European satellites to counterbalance NATO, dissolved. NATO then received requests for membership from several Eastern European states. In response, NATO created the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) in December 1991 to open relations with these countries. Designed as a forum for discussion and cooperation between its members and NATO, NACC addresses concerns ranging from toxic waste clean-up to political and other nonstrategic issues.

The Partnership for Peace was created within the framework of NACC to allow member countries, some of which have not yet established military and political stability, to develop a closer relationship with NATO. PFP participants may eventually become full NATO members.

To join PFP, participants sign the Partnership for Peace Framework Document, in which they promise “to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, to respect existing borders and to settle disputes by peaceful means.”

PFP participants pledge to share defense and security information with NATO, to maintain democratic control of their military, and to be ready to participate in peacekeeping operations. In return, NATO will conduct joint military exercises, training, and planning operations with PFP members. Under the provisions of the PFP agreement, participants will also learn how to prepare defense budgets and will be trained to operate effectively with NATO forces in fields such as peacekeeping, search and rescue, and humanitarian operations.