1997 Madrid summit

The summit was notable for inviting three new members, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic to join the alliance.

Slovakia had held a referendum on NATO membership in May 1997, but turnout in the referendum failed to achieve the required 50% of eligible voters and government sabotage was blamed, which in turn was viewed as one of a string of undemocratic measures taken by Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar.

[3] A main concern for the United States was the cost of potentially raising the military standards of the new Eastern European members.

Estimates put this cost at as much as US$10 billion, which participants worried could lead to the treaty recognizing the new members being rejected by the Republican-held U.S.

One notable absence from the summit was Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia, which was instead represented by lower level bureaucrats.

Secretary of Defense William Cohen , accompanied by National Security Advisor Samuel Burger (left) and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (right), speaks during a press conference, held 8 July 1997, at the Miguel Ángel Hotel, Madrid , Spain. The three policy leaders talked to reporters about the historic decision, made earlier in the day at the NATO summit, to invite Poland , Hungary , and the Czech Republic , three former members of the now defunct Warsaw Pact , to begin accession negotiations to join the NATO alliance.