NATO: July 1997 Madrid Summit Outcome (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
July 14, 1997 |
| Report Number |
97-443 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
President Clinton and the other NATO heads of state and government, meeting in Madrid, Spain on July 8-9, 1997, invited the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to begin accession talks with the Alliance. Initiating the enlargement process was the major goal set for the summit meeting, but the outcome was achieved only after some hard bargaining. French President Jacques Chirac came to Madrid strongly advocating inclusion of Romania and Slovenia in the first group of invitees. He argued successfully for some indication that these two southern European countries would be next on the list of candidates. The leaders affirmed that enlargement would be a process and that they would review candidacies of additional countries at a meeting in April 1999 when they hope to welcome the three current invitees as NATO members. The other goals of the summit were met only in part. The allies had hoped to be able to celebrate a new NATO at Madrid, but the celebration was qualified by failure to agree on reform of the NATO command structure and by France s decision that NATO had not changed sufficiently to warrant its return to full military participation in the Alliance.
