    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [March 9, 1993]
    [Pages 257-263]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's News Conference With President Francois Mitterrand of
    France
    March 9, 1993

        President Clinton. Good afternoon. It is a great pleasure for me to
    welcome President Mitterrand to the White House at this early date in
    our administration.
        Our two nations share a friendship which dates back to the
    revolutionary birth of both countries, rooted in common values of
    equality, liberty, and democracy. These bonds of culture, of history,
    and of common purpose have made possible a remarkable amount of
    cooperation in recent days in meeting the challenges in Iraq and Somalia
    and Bosnia.
        Today President Mitterrand and I discussed the global partnership
    that we must bring to the post-cold-war world, new uncertainties and new
    opportunities. Both our nations and both our continents are renewing
    institutions of security and economic growth for this era.

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        I salute President Mitterrand and the French people for their
    leadership. Their exemplary contribution to the United Nations
    peacekeeping operations around the globe is just one of many examples of
    the contributions they have and will continue to make.
        This morning we discussed Russia, Bosnia, and the progress toward
    European union. Over lunch we will discuss other issues including the
    Uruguay round of trade talks. We have differences on some issues.
    Clearly, we need French leadership to resolve some outstanding
    differences but also to make common cause in the areas in which we
    agree.
        Both our nations are great trading nations and have much to gain by
    resolving the differences between us and moving the world toward a
    growing global economy. I am very, very hopeful that the United States
    and France can be partners in updating our common interests and in
    leading the G-7 toward coordinated policies of global economic growth
    and especially toward action in dealing with Russia.
        President Mitterrand is going to Russia soon, and he will be there
    and back before I have an opportunity to meet with President Yeltsin in
    April in Canada. I look forward to closely consulting with him about
    that again after his trip to Russia.
        We talked a little bit about the Vance-Owen peace process today, and
    you might want to ask President Mitterrand about his views on that. Let
    me say that I have been very pleased with the comments that he has made
    today and with the possibilities that we might have toward working
    together to secure a peace in Bosnia.
        There are many challenges facing the great democracies of the world
    today. We have to reaffirm our support for the difficult transformations
    to democracy now taking place in the former Soviet Union and in central
    and eastern Europe, to reaffirm our interest in closely cooperating to
    advance peace in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world, and to
    promote democracy and economic growth throughout the world.
        We made a very good beginning this morning, and I want to publicly
    thank the President, as I have privately, for the enormously helpful
    conversations we had this morning. He has been at this work longer than
    I have by several years. I learned a lot today. I appreciated his candor
    and the insights which he brought to our discussion. I look forward to
    continuing over lunch and to continue a long and significant
    relationship between the United States and France.
        And I thank you, Mr. President. And the microphone is yours.
        President Mitterrand. Ladies and gentlemen, I think everything that
    needs to be said has been said. At least everything has been said about
    what we talked about and about what we will be talking about during the
    time that remains for our meeting. So I haven't really anything to add,
    while waiting for questions that you may wish to ask.
        On the other hand, I would like to recall, just as President Clinton
    has just done, I'd like to recall that for Frenchmen it's always a very
    important moment, it's a real event, and it's a very happy moment to be
    coming to Washington in order to meet with the President of the United
    States of America. And so it is with the same keen interest that today
    I'm here in this capital city in order to meet a President whose fame
    has already encompassed the world several times but whom I'd never met.
        And now we have had useful conversations. And the subjects that
    we've talked about, as mentioned by President Clinton, these subjects
    have given us the opportunity of seeing that our positions were very
    similar. And it is pleasant to note, particularly as the subjects are
    very difficult subjects, Bosnia, former Yugoslavia, the revolution that
    is taking place in Russia and in all the countries of the former Soviet
    Union, and all this is very important.
        President Clinton has shown a keen interest in the future of the
    European unity. And I gave him my feelings and what I was committed to
    myself. We still have matters to talk about. There are interests of
    which oppose us, which is perfectly natural, between our countries.
    That's in the nature of things. But there is a real determination to
    reach agreement. And that is, I think, which is the leitmotiv of all our
    conversations. And I'm delighted with the hospitality extended to me. I
    appreciate this very warmly, very much.
        And I wish to express my warm thanks, at the same time, to the
    members of the press who have been good enough to be present here today.
    Now, I am at your disposal, as you are, doubtless, yourself, Mr.
    President, at the disposal of the curiosity of the ladies and gentlemen
    of the press. I'm sure they'll be very discreet. They won't ask much.

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    Bosnia

        Q. President Clinton, did you discuss at all the specifics of a
    possible American contribution of ground troops in the enforcement phase
    of a peace agreement in Bosnia?
        President Clinton. Only in the most general terms. I restated the
    position of the administration, which is now well-known in the public,
    that we were opposed to the introduction of American ground forces to
    try to mandate an agreement or to in any way engage in the present
    conflict, but that if an agreement could be reached, that the United
    States would be interested in being part of a United Nations effort to
    secure the agreement.
        Q. Mr. President, you said that both of you have reached some sort
    of agreements on new efforts in Bosnia. Can you tell us what they are?
        President Clinton. No.
        Q. And also, I would like to ask President Mitterrand how can
    European leaders ban the slaughter, in view of the lead-up to World War
    I and World War II, similarities of the hatreds and abuses that have led
    now to these conflicts?
        President Clinton. Shall I go first? The only agreement we made with
    regard to Bosnia was that it would be an error for France to increase
    its troops or for the United States to introduce troops to become
    embroiled in the conflict but that we both should be prepared to make
    our contributions to securing the agreement if the Vance-Owen process
    could produce one.
        President Mitterrand. Madam, no more than you do, we just do not
    accept violence, violence of any kind, the violence that is taking place
    in particular in Bosnia. A problem for us--and we have the
    responsibility of defining the policies of our countries--our problem is
    to know how, by what means, what means do we have and what means should
    we employ in order to get the results that we all want, which is peace
    or at least the end of violence.
        And in that respect, may I remind you that France is participating
    in the United Nations efforts. France is actually the country that is at
    present supplying the most numerous troops, military contribution to the
    U.N. efforts, more than--well, almost 5,000 men right now. And we
    already have lost 12 people killed and more than 100 wounded.
        Our position is very simple to express but, of course, difficult to
    implement. We approve the Vance-Owen plan. We want it to be successful.
    We see in what way it is not perfect, but this instrument, well, we know
    of none better. And as it is the best of the possible plans, right now,
    as of today, we support the Vance-Owen plan, and we want it to be the
    basis of an agreement.
        So if it does succeed, if it gets the agreement of the three parties
    concerned--one might almost say four parties or five even--in other
    words, if you include the three countries which are Croatia, Serbia, and
    Bosnia, but there are also the Serbs in Bosnia and perhaps the Croats in
    Bosnia, et cetera. So if the agreement is reached--and for the moment it
    is under discussion, as you know, as a whole series of discussions that
    are taking place and will take place, and I'll have occasion to take
    part in them myself in the next few days. And the purpose of all these
    discussions is to get the Owen-Vance plan accepted, agreed. If it is
    agreed, thanks to discussions and possibly modifications, but if it ends
    up by being agreed, accepted, then we think that immediately it will be
    necessary to set up without the transition taking too long--and if it
    could be immediate transition, it would be even better--we think we must
    ensure military presence in order to ensure the full respect for the
    agreements reached, so that the passions and local animosities should
    not immediately prevail. And in that respect, France is prepared to
    participate in this force of peace under the authority of the United
    Nations.

    Russia

        Q. [Inaudible]--have an emergency meeting of the G-7 sometime before
    the July summit in order to deal at the clinical level the question of
    Russian aid? And, if not, how do you propose breaking what seems to be
    the gridlock between the Russian Government and the international
    lending institutions?
        President Clinton. The short answer to your question, I suppose, is
    yes. I think it is entirely possible that such a meeting might be
    useful. Whether a meeting is possible or not depends in part on the
    response of the other members of the G-7. The Japanese, as you know,
    have territorial disputes outstanding and also have put a lot into the
    upcoming meeting in July. Perhaps there is some other way that we can
    engage the G-7 in trying to address the Russian situation.
        I guess the important point I'd like to make

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    is, I don't believe we can wait until July for the major countries of
    the world who care about what happens in Russia and who would like very
    much to keep political and economic reform on track there to move. And
    President Mitterrand is going to Moscow, and then we'll talk when he
    gets back. Then I'm going to Canada. And at the conclusion of that
    meeting, if not before, I will try to move to mobilize others to act in
    this regard whether or not it is possible to have a formal G-7 meeting.

    Bosnia

        Q. Did you get the impression that President Clinton would be
    prepared to, in fact, move in, in former Yugoslavia once an agreement is
    reached?
        President Mitterrand. Yes, well, he has just expressed himself on
    this a moment ago. He said that he did not want to engage in a military
    campaign on the basis of a disagreement among the parties concerned. And
    that is exactly the same position as France.
        But the President also indicated that he was prepared to examine the
    possibility of having an American presence in the framework of all the
    steps that will be taken for the implementation of an agreement, once an
    agreement is reached, if the agreement is reached.

    Russia

        Q. Did you specifically talk about Russia?
        President Mitterrand. Well, I am glad you asked me the question,
    too, because it was already a question for President Clinton. I'm in
    favor of what you are suggesting, an earlier G-7. I think it's even
    necessary, because there are problems specifically in Eastern Europe and
    in Russia that are urgent, quite apart from many other problems. I also
    know about the Japanese opposition to the idea. Perhaps Japan is not
    having sufficient regard in this respect to the importance of events
    that are taking place mainly in Europe. I have already given my
    agreement to Mr. Delors anyway.

    Middle East Peace Talks

        Q. Did you discuss with the French President at all the Middle East
    peace process? And are you optimistic, for the next round of talks, that
    Syria comes to an agreement with Israel?
        President Clinton. We have not discussed the Middle East yet. We
    will over lunch. Yes, I am hopeful.

    Health Care Reform

        Q. Mr. President, may I ask, regarding your health care reform, now
    that you're so deeply involved in trying to find more budget cuts, what
    is your expectation for when you would start seeing some savings from
    health reform? And should Americans expect that they will have to settle
    for reduced core benefits unless they can pay more, of course----
        President Clinton. No.
        Q. ----for some sort of reduced services in order to achieve these
    savings?
        President Clinton. No, I don't necessarily accept that. Of course,
    we have 400 people working on this now and consulting widely with all
    the people involved in the health care issue.
        Let me answer your first question pointedly. I believe, under all
    the scenarios I have seen that I think are possible, we would see
    immediate savings in the private sector if we were to adopt a
    comprehensive health care reform package. That is, private employers and
    employees would see the rate of their insurance premium increases drop
    rather dramatically and there would be really significant savings
    immediately in the private sector.
        Because those savings in the public sector would have to be used to
    provide some insurance at least to the unemployed uninsured, who are
    about 30 percent of the total population of uninsured--at least to
    them--it might take 4 years or so before we would start seeing
    significant taxpayer savings. But interestingly enough, that's about the
    time we need it. That is, if you look at all the scenarios, the deficit
    can be brought down under our plan for 4 years, and then if health care
    costs are not brought under control, it will start up again in the
    latter part of this decade. So we certainly believe that the health care
    plan would bring the deficit down virtually to zero over the next 8 to
    10 years.
        Now, will people have to accept a lower quality of health care? I
    just dispute that entirely. We're already spending 30 percent more of
    our income than any country in the world. I don't think that----

    Steel Subsidies

        Q. Yesterday the United States imposed some tithes, additional
    tithes on some products of steel. The argument is that the subsidies are
    unfair. But the other side says that the subsidies are not unfair. What
    is the middle ground?

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    What do you think can be negotiated? And, also, I would like to hear the
    response of President Mitterrand.
        President Clinton. First of all, I want to make it very clear that
    the steel case was a case which was made on the basis of the facts, and
    waiting for me when I took office as President and waiting for our Trade
    Ambassador. So the real question was whether we would act consistent
    with the work that had been done before we took office, based on the
    evidence that had been amassed then. And we decided that we had to
    proceed with that to provide the continuity of the enforcement of our
    trade laws.
        I think the ultimate resolution of all these things is to continue
    to work for a more open trading system. I am strongly committed to a
    successful completion of the Uruguay round this year and to taking other
    measures which will open markets all around the world and reduce trade
    barriers. And I'm going to do everything I can to be instrumental in
    that regard. In order to get there, every nation has to have some
    mechanism to protect itself if there is uneven treatment. And we'll
    always have factual arguments about what is even and uneven, but I think
    the key is, are we moving toward a more open trading system or not?

    International Arms Sales

        Q. How can we stop wars as long as the United States permits the
    sale of arms around the world by our CIA agents and by bringing in arms
    from China? And now, faced with the proposition from the Soviet--Russia
    that we let them sell conventional arms around the world to aid their
    economy, how can we get wars to stop under those conditions?
        President Clinton. I think both of us should answer that question.
    President Mitterrand will be the company misery loves on that question.
    [Laughter]
        I believe the United States has an obligation to try to stop the
    proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to slow the
    proliferations of weapons generally throughout the world. It is not a
    simple or an easy thing to do. And our ability to do it is limited by
    the sovereignty of other nations and by the policies they pursue. But I
    can assure you just since I have been in office, and on more than one
    occasion, I have done what I could within the means available to me to
    try to limit proliferation, and I will continue to do that.
        Since you brought up Russia, let me say again, one of the reasons I
    think it is so important for us to try to move aggressively to give the
    Russians the means to restore some economic growth and opportunity and
    preserve political liberty is that as other options close to them, they
    will be more and more and more forced to look upon their capacity to
    sell arms as the only way they can earn foreign currency, the only way
    they can keep the economy going, the only way they can keep a lot of
    their factories open. So I think the case you have made and the question
    is a powerful argument for the policies we are attempting to undertake
    with Russia.
        Mr. President.
        President Mitterrand. Well, I might simply recall to the lady who
    spoke that it was in Paris at the end of an international conference--
    well, it was the largest ever number of participants. It was in Paris,
    then, that there was the signature of the convention on the prohibition
    of chemical and biological weapons; furthermore, that France has always
    approved the various plans for limiting nuclear weaponry signed between
    the United States of America and the Soviet Union in the past and more
    recently with Russia. And France took the initiative of stopping nuclear
    testing precisely in order to give everyone time to reconsider the
    possibility of bringing them to a definitive end, with the end of over-
    armaments in this area.
        So I think that there is a very favorable ground here. The reduction
    of armaments, though, can only be conceived with the ending of sales of
    armaments. This can only be conceived in the framework of an
    international negotiation. No country otherwise could afford to place
    itself in a situation of danger, in fact, if the other countries don't
    do likewise and make the same effort. But we're certainly prepared to
    move ahead in this direction.

    Trade

        Q. Mr. President, you heard President Clinton and his administration
    in recent months challenging Europe on steel, on agriculture, on civil
    aircraft. I know that that part of your discussion will be for lunch,
    but what is your viewpoint?
        President Mitterrand. Well, we decided to talk about this later on,
    so it's difficult for me to accelerate things all alone just of my own
    accord. I can't jump the gun. But President Clinton probably knows as
    much as you do about

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    my frame of mind and the frame of mind of France, in this respect, which
    can be summed up in a word: international negotiations of GATT is trade
    negotiation so as to eliminate protectionism, precisely. And it's an
    overall comprehensive negotiation, global negotiation which doesn't
    touch all sectors but many, many sectors and, therefore, not only
    farming and agriculture.
        If one, therefore, looks at the discussion solely from the point of
    view of agriculture, then it can't work. If, however, it is looked at in
    the form of a balanced negotiation, covering the various sectors that
    are involved, of industries, services, intellectual property, and so on,
    then there's no reason not to be able to succeed. And in that respect,
    what France wants is that there should be a success of this, because I
    share the view expressed by President Clinton a moment ago which is that
    it is better we will be able to succeed in this respect, then the sooner
    we will get out of the present recession, the present crisis, the
    present problems. But at the same time, we mustn't isolate and separate
    off subjects and just deal with them piecemeal. No, we mustn't do that,
    which is what happens only too often nowadays.

    Spending Cuts

        Q. Several questions have been raised by your agreement to cut
    spending further here. First among them is why you've agreed to general
    budget cuts without the specifics when you have for so long been
    demanding specifics of others who wanted to cut the budget further.
    Also, Senator Sasser said outside that while you have not agreed to
    necessarily $90 billion in further cuts, that is about as far, he
    suggested, that you feel they could go without harming the economy. Is
    that the case, that $90 billion is it and no more suggestions need be
    made?
        President Clinton. There are two different questions there. First of
    all, in this budget resolution there is an attempt to deal by both the
    Senate and the House Budget Committees, an honest attempt to deal with
    the so-called reestimates of the Congressional Budget Office; that is,
    to get even more deficit reduction. And I believe it will produce far
    more than we even estimate. They have to decide to get the budget
    resolution passed by category. But I assure you that we will be very
    specific before the process is over.
        It is true that I think that we have cut the deficit in a 4-year
    period about as much as we should with these new numbers. But that
    doesn't mean we don't need more specifics, because we have to define how
    we're going to cut. And since I also strongly believe we have to
    increase our investments in education and training and in new
    technologies and in the things which will make our economy grow, it
    means we need all the suggestions we can get about other places we can
    cut the budget, and we will need to do that until the budget is finally
    passed.
        So I strongly support that. The Vice President, as you know, is
    heading the performance review audit of the entire Federal Government.
    And the more specific suggestions we can come up with that everyone
    agrees with, the fewer controversial and potentially damaging cuts we'll
    have.
        Let me just make the economic argument. Our deficit reduction
    package--and Senator after Senator said today, you know, that this is
    the most credible budget I've seen in 15 or 17 or however many years--it
    is producing the desired results: low interest rates, stock market back
    up and doing well.
        We have to deal with that against a backdrop of a Europe that's had
    slow growth, Japan with some serious economic problems and no political
    consensus about what to do about it in Japan. So we want to do what our
    European and Japanese friends have been telling us for years we should
    do, get our deficit under control. But we want to do it at a moderate
    pace so that we don't throw the United States back into recession and
    further complicate the economic problems of Europe, which will be helped
    by a growing American economy. So I think we've struck the right
    balance, and that was the point I was making to them.

    Middle East Peace Talks

        Q. President Clinton, concerning the Middle East, you said that your
    country intends to play the role of a full partner in the peace process.
    How do you intend to translate this? And what would you tell Israeli
    Prime Minister Rabin when you receive him next week so that to resume
    the talks, especially concerning the Palestinian deportees?
        President Clinton. Well, I think that what we mean by a full
    partnership was evidenced by the fact that the Secretary of State's
    first trip abroad was to the Middle East and that he made aggressive
    efforts there to try to get the

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    talks back on track and to involve as many parties as possible. In terms
    of what I will tell Prime Minister Rabin when he comes back, I won't say
    anything I haven't said in public about the deportee issue or anything
    else. We are working together. I feel comfortable and confident that he
    very much wants the peace process back on track, and I will support
    that.

    Civil Aircraft Agreement

        Q. What specific revisions do you want in the agreement on civil
    aircraft? And are you prepared to abrogate last year's agreement?
        President Clinton. No, no, absolutely not. I think to some extent my
    remarks in that regard have been misunderstood, and they may be my
    fault. I support last year's agreement. The point I was trying to make
    is this: The United States had a big lead in civilian aircraft.
    Arguably, it was contributed to by the massive investments we made in
    defense and the spinoff benefits. That was always the European argument
    for their own direct subsidies in the airbus program, that we had
    indirectly done the same thing through defense.
        It costs a great deal of money to develop new aircraft, to break
    into new markets, and to go forward. The argument I was trying to make
    to the Boeing workers last week, and I will restate it here, is that the
    adversity they have suffered in the market is through no fault of their
    own. That is, they have not failed by being unproductive or lazy or
    asking for too much but that Europe was able to penetrate this market
    because of the airbus policy. And the blame I placed was on our
    Government for not responding, not Europe's for trying to get in. That
    was their right; it was legal under international law, and they did it.
    Now, we chose instead to try to convince them to stop doing as much as
    they were doing, which produced the agreement to which you just alluded.
    I strongly support that agreement. I do not want it abrogated; I want it
    enforced.
        My policy now on this--and I don't want to prejudge the work that
    the commission we're about to appoint--Congress is going to pass a bill
    in the next few days--we're going to appoint a commission on the future
    of our commercial airlines company and our airline manufacturers. I
    don't want to prejudge that, but my policy basically has two points:
    Number one, the agreement must be honored and strictly adhered to. And,
    number two, the agreement leaves the United States as well as Europe the
    opportunity to significantly invest in the development of new
    technologies for new generations of aircraft, and we have to take that
    opportunity in order to be competitive. And I appreciate your asking the
    question because it gives me the opportunity to clarify my position.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President's fifth news conference began at 12:20 p.m. in the
    East Room at the White House. President Mitterrand spoke in French, and
    his remarks were translated by an interpreter.