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Since its founding in 1949, NATO has been enlarged five times : ten countries from the former Soviet block have joined the transatlantic alliance successively in 1999 and in 2004. This opening-up to the East is only the beginning of a process that aims at unifying the European space. And three new countries from central and eastern Europe — Albania, Croatia and Macedonia — are expected to join the Alliance in the future, as well as perhaps the Ukraine and Georgia, which belong to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The enlargement of NATO contributes to increase its legitimacy, yet, on the other hand, it makes it less coherent. This situation raises the issues regarding both the role of the Alliance on the international scene as well as its identity alongside the construction of a European security system.