The Contact Group is the name for an informal grouping of great powers that have a significant interest in policy developments in the Balkans. The Contact Group is composed of United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia. It was first created in response to the war and the crisis in Bosnia in the early 1990s. The Contact Group includes four of the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council and the countries that invest the heaviest in troops and involvement in the Balkans. Representatives of the EU Council, EU Presidency, European Commission and NATO generally attend Contact Group meetings.