UPSC Prelims 2025 Q21: NATO Membership of European Countries
Consider the following countries:
I. Austria
II. Bulgaria
III. Croatia
IV. Serbia
V. Sweden
VI. North Macedonia
How many of the above are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization?
- Only three
- Only four
- Only five
- All the six
Answer: (b) Only four
Statement-wise explanation
- I: incorrect — Austria is not a NATO member. After the 1955 Austrian State Treaty ended the Allied occupation, Austria passed a constitutional law of permanent neutrality on 26 October 1955. Its neutrality is military, so it cannot join a military alliance. It works with NATO only as a partner country.
- II: correct — Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004. It came in during the largest single round of enlargement, with Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
- III: correct — Croatia joined NATO in 2009, together with Albania. It was the second former Yugoslav republic to join, after Slovenia in 2004.
- IV: incorrect — Serbia is not a NATO member. It follows a declared policy of military neutrality and has said it will not seek membership. It takes part only in NATO's Partnership for Peace programme, which it was invited to join in 2006. NATO's 1999 bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia over Kosovo still shapes Serbian opinion against the alliance.
- V: correct — Sweden became NATO's 32nd member in March 2024. It applied in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, which ended about two centuries of military non-alignment. Türkiye and Hungary held up its accession for nearly two years.
- VI: correct — North Macedonia joined NATO in 2020 as the 30th member. Greece had blocked its entry for years because of a dispute over the country's name. The 2018 Prespa Agreement, which renamed it 'North Macedonia', removed that block.
How to eliminate
Basic knowledge eliminates the extreme options. 'All the six' fails once you remember that Austria is a famously neutral state, a status set in 1955, and is not in NATO. Sweden's accession in March 2024 was major news, so it is almost certainly a member. That leaves three, four or five, and you need specific facts to choose. Serbia's military neutrality and its anti-NATO stance since the 1999 Kosovo bombing rule it out. Bulgaria (2004), Croatia (2009) and North Macedonia (2020) are all members. Fact to remember: in the Balkans, the states outside NATO are Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. In the rest of Europe, the neutral non-members are Austria, Ireland, Switzerland and Malta.
Know more
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created by the Washington Treaty of 4 April 1949. It is a collective-defence alliance. Under Article 5, an armed attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. Article 5 has been invoked only once, after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US. Membership is open to European states by unanimous invitation (Article 10), so any single member can block a candidate. Türkiye and Hungary held up Sweden this way, and Greece held up North Macedonia.
NATO began with 12 founders. After ten rounds of enlargement it has 32 members.
| Year | Countries that joined |
|---|---|
| 1952 | Greece, Türkiye |
| 1955 | West Germany |
| 1982 | Spain |
| 1999 | Czechia, Hungary, Poland |
| 2004 | Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia |
| 2009 | Albania, Croatia |
| 2017 | Montenegro |
| 2020 | North Macedonia |
| 2023 | Finland |
| 2024 | Sweden |
European states outside NATO
| Group | Countries |
|---|---|
| Constitutionally or traditionally neutral | Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Malta |
| Western Balkans | Serbia (military neutrality), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo |
| Eastern Europe | Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia (aspirants or partners); Belarus (allied to Russia) |
The EU and NATO overlap but are not the same. Austria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus are in the EU but not in NATO. Norway, Iceland, Türkiye, the UK, Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia are in NATO but not in the EU. UPSC often tests these mismatches.
In the news
Sweden became NATO's 32nd member in March 2024, shortly after Finland joined in 2023. NATO marked its 75th anniversary in April 2024. Both events kept the alliance's membership in the news ahead of Prelims 2025.