Membership Action Plan (MAP)

Participation in the MAP, however, does not prejudge any decision by the Alliance on future membership. At present, three countries - Albania, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia ¹ - are members of the MAP.

What does this mean in practice?

The MAP’s main features are the submission by aspiring members of individual annual national programmes on their preparations for possible future membership, covering political, economic, defence, resource, security and legal aspects; a focused and candid feedback mechanism on aspirant countries' progress on their programmes that includes both political and technical advice, as well as annual meetings between all NATO members and individual aspirants at the level of the North Atlantic Council to assess progress; and a defence planning approach for aspirants which includes elaboration and review of agreed planning targets.

How did this policy evolve?

The MAP was launched in April 1999 at the Alliance’s Washington Summit to help countries aspiring to NATO membership in their preparations. The process drew heavily on the experience gained during the accession process of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, which had been joined NATO in the Alliance’s first post-Cold War round of enlargement in 1999.

Which NATO bodies have a central role?

Each year, meetings of the North Atlantic Council with each of the aspirants take place to discuss progress. Throughout the year, meetings and workshops with NATO civilian and military experts in various fields allow for discussion of the entire spectrum of issues relevant to membership. An annual consolidated progress report on activities under the MAP is presented to NATO foreign and defence ministers at their regular spring meetings each year.