    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [September 17, 1993]
    [Pages 1526-1532]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Ciampi of Italy
    September 17, 1993

        The President. Good afternoon. It is a great pleasure for me to
    welcome Prime Minister Ciampi to the White House and to see him again
    after our very successful meeting in Tokyo this summer. I deeply value
    the opportunity to exchange thoughts on all the challenges that we face
    today with one of Europe's most respected figures.
        The domestic reforms which have been undertaken during the Prime
    Minister's tenure are truly impressive, and I salute him for that. And I
    congratulate the people of Italy on achieving greater financial
    stability and laying the foundations for future growth. Our two nations
    share a wealth of cultural, historical, and personal ties. From the
    voyage of Columbus to the contribu-

    [[Page 1527]]

    tions that millions of Italian-Americans make today to our Nation, those
    ties form a foundation for a common understanding of common objectives.
        I salute, too, the Prime Minister for the contributions Italy is
    making around the world. No country has stood more solidly for NATO or
    is doing more now to ensure the health and the vitality of our
    transatlantic alliance.
        Italy is in the forefront of efforts to build an integrated Europe
    also, a goal the United States strongly supports, and to draw Europe's
    many nations, East and West, closer together. In places as far-flung as
    Somalia, Mozambique, Albania, Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Middle East,
    Italy shoulders major responsibilities. Over the coming year Italy will
    have an even more important role to play as the chairman of the G-7.
    Italy will host the 1994 G-7 summit in July and will soon assume the
    chairmanship also of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in
    Europe. I welcome the opportunity to work with Italy to promote our
    common values and interests while Italy upholds these important
    leadership positions.
        Of the issues we discussed today, I'd like to underscore one in
    particular, the need to stimulate global economic growth and create jobs
    in all of our countries by concluding by year's end the Uruguay round of
    trade negotiations. I emphasized to the Prime Minister and asked him to
    convey the message to his partners in Europe that the European Community
    must uphold the Blair House accord on agricultural trade. When the EC
    meets in a few days' time, it must resist reopening this hard-struck
    bargain and avoid standing in the way of efforts to bring the round to a
    rapid and successful conclusion.
        The Prime Minister and I pledged that our nations will continue to
    work closely together to enhance trade, as well as to enhance peace,
    stability, and democracy. In particular, we agreed on the critical need
    for a peace settlement in Bosnia and discussed plans for the
    implementation of such a settlement should it be achieved.
        I expressed our appreciation for the important role Italy has played
    in our efforts to secure a just peace in Bosnia, especially the role of
    its air bases. We also discussed the prospects for peace in the Middle
    East following the historic events of last Monday. We agreed on the need
    to help all parties in the Middle East make steady progress toward a
    comprehensive peace settlement, and I discussed with the Prime Minister
    the possibility of having a donors conference among the major nations
    who will be asked to contribute to implementing the details of the peace
    accord. Italy and the United States will work together to raise the
    resources to assist Palestinian self-government, while in Somalia and
    Mozambique we cooperate with the United Nations to assist peacekeeping
    and to promote civil society. We also discussed Iran and Libya, and I
    stressed the need to continue to press these nations to abide by
    international law.
        I want to say a few words, if I might, on the subject with which I
    began, the profound political changes now underway in Italy. America has
    historically been in the forefront of such change and has supported it.
    As a people, we have always believed our Nation had only one direction,
    forward. Change, a vigorous and healthy process, is now at work to an
    astonishing degree in Italy. I want to again commend the Prime Minister
    for successfully guiding Italy's impressive electoral and financial
    reforms, and I stressed that between democracies such as ours, change
    can never be a source of concern but instead always should be a source
    of reassurance that democratic renewal is at work.
        I wish Prime Minister Ciampi, his government, and the Italian people
    success in their own endeavors at self-renewal. My nominee as Ambassador
    to Italy, Reginald Bartholomew, one of our finest professional
    diplomats, will help to maintain strong ties between our countries
    during this critical period. I want to assure the Italian people that as
    both our countries undergo domestic transformations, a key bond endures,
    the abiding friendship between our nations and our peoples.
        Mr. Prime Minister.
        Prime Minister Ciampi. Thank you, Mr. President. First of all I
    wanted to thank President Clinton for giving me the possibility to be
    here today. And the discussion with President Clinton will fully confirm
    the atmosphere of a deep and intense trust that emerged during our
    meeting in Tokyo last July. They were given new momentum by the event
    taking place just a few days after the historic event that on these very
    grounds opened a new chapter of dialog and hope in the relations between
    the people of Israel and Palestine, which Italy as a Mediterranean
    country has always advocated. Europe, too, stands ready to make its
    contribution to consolidating this position through political support
    and

    [[Page 1528]]

    through an economic effort toward a reconstruction of the territories
    and development of the region.
        During the course of our discussions, I briefed President Clinton on
    the deep process of transformation underway in Italy. I stressed that
    this process is taking place in an atmosphere of democratic order and a
    wide public consensus. The priority of the Italian Government is
    economic recovery and job creation. Our action will range from reducing
    the public debt and the public deficit and keeping inflation under
    control to reshaping the industrial system also by means of
    privatization.
        Results have already been achieved. They are confirmed by the
    renewed confidence of domestic and international financial markets.
    While we are aware that this renewed confidence doesn't mean that our
    problems have been solved, it does indicate that we are on the right
    road. We must persevere. It is a long journey; this we know.
        The Italian Government's strong commitment to its domestic affairs
    is sped forward also by its awareness that the changes in the
    international arena following the end of the cold war require it to play
    an operative role in the new set of common responsibilities of the
    largest industrialized economies of the Western World. Italy intends to
    proceed on the road toward European integration for the creation of the
    community that is a strong partner in an open system of international
    trade and a new system of international security, the excitement of the
    prospect for revolution of transatlantic relations in the area of
    security and of economic collaboration.
        We brought one another up today and organized our perspective on the
    situation in the former Yugoslavia and in Somalia. On this last topic,
    my government, the Italian people harbor a legitimate and special
    concern heightened by the most recent tragic developments.
        President Clinton and I recognize the problems of operating in a
    completely devastated institutional, social, and economic context, as is
    the case in Somalia. This very reality, unacceptable as it is, was the
    source of our common participation in Restore Hope. But the experience
    of these past months leads us today to recommend a concrete program to
    be proposed jointly to the United Nations for the revival of a political
    initiative in Somalia. It is a matter, in particular, of supporting the
    humanitarian and the security mission on the ground, with a more
    decisive management of the process of a national reconciliation among so
    many factions. This is the precondition for an effort to reconstruct the
    country, institutionally and materially.
        I confirmed to President Clinton Italy's determination that the
    Uruguay round be brought to a global and equitable solution by December
    15th. The GATT agreement is indispensable, not only because of its
    merits but also as a message of the confidence to economic operators. We
    both attach the utmost importance to the Atlantic summit of next
    January, and we hope that this alliance, which has proved so effective
    against the threats of the cold war will be capable of expressing a
    renewed vitality in this phase of a transition of a post-Communist
    system to democracy and to a worldwide market economy.
        At the doorway to Italy and that of Europe, the dramatic events in
    the former Yugoslavia stand as an insult to our civil conscience and as
    a challenge to the leadership ability of the international community. In
    this framework, President Clinton and I both agreed that Atlantic
    solidarity must play a central role under the aegis of the United
    Nations. On my part, I confirmed to President Clinton that Italy's
    strongly committed to ensuring that the summit of the seven of the most
    industrialized nations, which will be hosted by Italy in July of next
    year in Naples, regain its driving force toward partnership on the broad
    themes of economic growth and international collaboration.
        In closing, I would like to express the hope that, even before this
    event takes place, President Clinton will be able to visit Italy. And to
    this end, I was happy to convey a letter of invitation addressed to him
    from the President of the Italian Republic.

    Somalia

        Q. Mr. President, there is a growing feeling in Congress that you
    should declare a victory and pull out of Somalia. And also, are you any
    closer to a way to have a negotiated peace in Somalia as a result of
    your conversations today?
        The President. Prime Minister Ciampi and I started this conversation
    in July in Tokyo, and we resumed it today. Both of us believe that some
    renewed political initiative in Somalia is important because in the end
    there has to be a political settlement that leaves the Somalis in
    control of their own destiny. The trick is how to do it without in any
    way rewarding the kind

    [[Page 1529]]

    of behavior that we have seen that could spread among all of the other
    warlords, who have been essentially playing by the rules and trying to
    work out a peaceful life for the people who they represented when
    everybody was fighting over there. So we're looking at what our options
    are, and we hope that we'll be able to see some sort of political
    initiative. There plainly was never intended to be nor could there be
    some ultimate military solution to Somalia.
        Is there an Italian journalist here?
        Q. He had to leave.
        The President. He had to leave so we will go on.
        Go ahead, Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].

    Health Care Reform

        Q. You're just a few days away from announcing your health care
    legislation. Can you tell us at this point how you plan to finance this
    plan, how much you plan to increase cigarette taxes and other sin taxes,
    and whether or not you plan to raise taxes on beer and wine?
        The President. No. [Laughter] I'll tell you why, though. Let me tell
    you why. The reason why is that I still have another round of meetings
    to attend that will go through one last time what our best estimates of
    costs are, what our options for phasing in those costs are, what our
    best estimates for the Medicare and Medicaid savings are. And we're
    working through that.
        I will say this about the dollars, because I read in the press
    reports that others have questioned it: For the first time ever, at
    least, we got all the Agencies of the Government together to hammer out
    agreed upon costs. That had never been done before. Then we went to, I
    think, 10 outside actuaries, including big firms who represent major
    players in health care in America.
        So we have done our best and certainly it is literally an
    unprecedented effort to try to come to grips with what the real costs
    are and what the real dollars are in potential savings. And when I make
    those final decisions, they'll be announced. You have to give me
    something to announce next week. I mean, everything else I've already
    read in the newspapers, the news magazines. I see it on the evening
    news. There has to be something.
        Go ahead, Gwen [Gwen Ifill, New York Times].

    Somalia

        Q. Back on Somalia for a minute. As you talk with allies like the
    Prime Minister here about the renewed political initiative you're
    talking about, do you have any way of drawing lines or reassuring the
    people who Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International] referred to
    on the Hill and elsewhere that this won't be a situation that America
    just can't get out of?
        The President. Well, it's not going to be a situation we just can't
    get out of. But on the other hand, we don't want to leave under
    conditions that will cause things to immediately revert to where they
    were before the United Nations entered. And so there has to be some sort
    of political initiative. And the Congress worked with me on their
    resolution on Somalia, gave me a reasonable amount of time to come up
    with a renewed initiative in cooperation with our allies. And I think by
    the time, you know, the time comes to go back to Congress, I will be
    able to answer those questions.
        Q. Can I follow?
        The President. Sure.
        Q. [Inaudible]--a commitment of troops?
        The President. No. No, no. We have the troops there, and it
    certainly doesn't mean more troops there. It means what we can do to
    stop the fighting and enable the U.N. to continue or at least the U.S.
    to continue to reduce its troop presence without seeing the whole
    country consumed in the kind of violence we've seen in one small part of
    Somalia recently.
        Andrea [Andrea Mitchell, NBC News].
        Q. On the subject of----
        The President. And then we'll take some Italian journalists
    afterward. Let's give the Italians a couple of questions after Andrea
    asks hers.

    Health Care Reform

        Q. On the subject of health care, do you think it will be necessary
    to phase out the small business subsidies after a decade or so, in order
    to prevent large corporations from gaming the system by spinning off
    their low-wage workers? And is it now your expectation that there would
    be a one percent payroll assessment on large corporations who opt to not
    be part of the health alliances?
        The President. Well, the answer to your second question is I haven't
    decided yet, but there's a very good case for that, and there's a very
    good case for the fact that they will be still much better off
    financially having all this hap-

    [[Page 1530]]

    pen, because they have been having exploding costs dumped on to them.
    And we're also, under our plan, going to relieve them of a lot of the
    burden of carrying their own retirees. So they would still come out well
    ahead, even if we did that.
        The answer to your first question is, I don't think it's possible to
    foresee what will happen 10 years from now, which is why I wouldn't
    think we should make a commitment. Mr. Magaziner was quoted in the
    press; he's often said we could do that if, in fact, people decided to
    game the system.
        What I think will happen is that we will finally have some genuine
    control over cost. This is basically the only area of our national life
    where it's been taken as a given that it was okay for costs to go up to
    3 or 4 times the rate of inflation. I think when that happens, that the
    system we have will become more widely accepted; it won't be gamed, and
    people will continue to think it's acceptable to give a break to the
    very small businesses and the ones with very low payroll costs. That's
    what I think will happen. I can certainly say that no decision has been
    made to do that. He just was saying in response to people who say,
    ``Well, what are you going to do if someone starts to game the system,''
    one option that we might pursue.
        Italian journalists. Let's take a couple of questions.

    Somalia

        Q. Let me ask you to elaborate a little bit farther on this
    political initiative on Somalia. Is that an initiative you agreed with
    Mr. Ciampi right now? Does it have something to do with the letter by
    Aideed? Is that initiative a U.S. initiative, a U.S.-Italian initiative,
    a U.N. initiative?
        The President. We discussed the letter that Mr. Aideed wrote to
    President Carter. And we discussed some of the options that we might
    pursue. And we agree that both of us would go back with our respective
    folks and see if we could come up with something to take to the United
    Nations. We did not reach agreement today on what to do. We agreed that
    we needed a political initiative but that the political initiative
    should further the original United Nations initiative and not undermine
    it.
        The Prime Minister perhaps would like to respond also.
        Prime Minister Ciampi. First of all, hearing the questions that have
    been asked to the President, I was wondering whether in Washington or in
    Rome, because leaving aside Somalia, which is a common problem to both
    of us, the questions on health care, which is keenly felt in Rome, too,
    and so I wasn't sure where I was, whether I was in Rome or in
    Washington, because our domestic problems obviously are very similar.
        Having said this, concerning Somalia, what I meant to say was that,
    having discussed the issues alluded to by President Clinton, we have a
    full agreement on this, keeping in mind the original goals of the
    mission in Somalia. And we agree that we must promote with the U.N. a
    political and diplomatic initiative which would fully highlight the
    fundamental goals and reasons for it being in Somalia. The military
    presence must complement the goals, the political goals, the
    humanitarian goals. This is what we agreed on. But what we must do must
    be done with a U.N. decision. What Italy does, or what the U.S. can do
    is to make proposals within the U.N.
        Q. Are you contemplating an international mediation through, for
    instance, ex-President Carter? Are you going to make a proposal like
    that to the U.N.?
        The President. We made no specific decision today, nor do I think we
    should speculate about them. I don't want to think out loud about them.
    We have agreed that there ought to be a political initiative, that it
    ought to be an initiative which furthers the original U.N. mission of
    enabling the Somalis to take control of their own affairs in peace, in
    dignity, and without starvation and murder. That is, we don't want to do
    something that rewards the very conduct we went to Somalia to put an end
    to. And that's the only decision that was made.

    Unemployment

        Q. I have a question for both of you, actually, on the jobs losses,
    because this is a problem for both countries on the road to economic
    reform or economic recovery. It seems to me that the two countries give
    two answers: The Americans lay off people; Italians keep subsidizing
    them, as in the latest accord in southern Italy on the chemical
    industry. Have you talked about it? Is there a way that this problem
    could be tackled differently from these two extremes?
        Prime Minister Ciampi. If you are referring to the Crotone case,
    this has been resolved.

    [[Page 1531]]

    Keeping in mind the principles of economics, all factories have their
    economic worth. This is the agreement that we have reached the other
    day, the other night in Italy at the Chigi Palace, with the leadership
    of Senator Maccanico, who is here with us today, who is one of my
    members of the staff and Under Secretary of the Council of Ministers.
        So there was no implementation of measures which were not coherent
    with the respect of economic principles. So the companies that don't do
    well will be closed, and what we have to do is to give birth to
    companies that can make an economic contribution and to implement as
    appropriately as possible those measures which we call social assistance
    measures, which will help the unemployed so that we can alleviate the
    negative effects of unemployment until they are reemployed. But what I
    would like to emphasize is that we will not implement anti-economic
    solutions.
        The President. If I might just comment briefly, I'm not in a
    position to comment on the specific Italian case which you mentioned,
    but I believe that if we want to create more jobs again--and I would
    point out that the problem of job creation is a problem for Europe, for
    Japan, for the United States, for all the wealthier countries--it is
    clear that each country who shares this goal among the wealthier
    countries must first of all be committed to increasing growth in the
    global economy. Unless there is global growth we cannot hope to see
    growth in our own countries because of all the competition from lower
    wage countries doing things that our people used to do.
        Secondly, there must be increased trade in the context of global
    growth because that's the only way a wealthy country can grow wealthier.
        Thirdly, within each country there must be economic policies that
    promote adequate investment, encourage people to hire new employees, and
    provide dramatic opportunities for continuous lifetime retraining since
    most people will change their work a lot of times over a lifetime. That
    is what we have to do to generate new jobs, and we have to do it
    together. You can protect this industry or that industry for a while,
    but in the end if you want to grow jobs, we have to have a lot of
    changes in the international network and a lot of changes within our
    countries. They're not easy ones to make, but they have to be made.

    Nuclear Testing by China

        Q. Mr. President, China reportedly is preparing to conduct a nuclear
    test, and you have previously said that if the moratorium on nuclear
    testing is broken, that you would direct the Energy Department to resume
    testing. Will you do that if the Chinese proceed?
        The President. Well, let me say first of all, let's wait and see
    what they do. I'm still very hopeful that the Chinese will not do that.
    And I have asked other nations that have relationships with China to
    also encourage them not to do it.
        The Chinese are finding their strength today, their real strength,
    in the same way that any other country at the end of the cold war finds
    theirs, in economic growth. There is no reasonable threat to China from
    any other nuclear power. Every other nuclear power has forsworn the use
    of testing. The United States is certainly a major trading partner of
    China. We have our second biggest trade deficit with China. We are doing
    more than our fair share to contribute to their economic renewal. And I
    would hope that the Chinese would see their future in terms of their
    economic strength and step away from this. And until they make a final
    definite decision and it happens, I don't want to cross any more
    bridges. I want to keep trying to persuade them not to do it.
        Yes, sir.

    Somalia

        Q. Mr. President, you said you don't want to discuss your methods
    until you go to the U.N., but you seem to be describing a goal of
    establishing a government, a functioning government in Somalia. Would
    you confirm that you're thinking in those terms and any timetable you
    might have?
        The President. No, I won't, because our position is not well enough
    formed yet to be characterized fairly in the way that you just
    characterized it.
        I've been very disturbed, frankly, as many Members of Congress, many
    Americans have, in the last several days by the turn of events in
    Somalia. Although I'm disturbed not only that our troops under the U.N.
    banner have been increasingly embroiled in conflict which have led to
    the deaths of Somalis, but I'm also disturbed that this is plainly part
    of a strategy by supporters of General Aideed to make the presence of
    the U.N. more unpopular there in all the

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    member countries. And if that is all that is achieved, then when we
    leave, the chances that they will revert to exactly the same horrors
    that got us there are very large.
        I have to remind my fellow Americans and all of the people in the
    world who have an aversion to the events of the last 2 weeks not to
    forget that over 300,000 people lost their lives there, were starved,
    were murdered, were subject to incredibly inhumane conditions because of
    the chaotic and lawless behavior of the people who had authority.
        Now, many of those warlords have changed their behavior, have been
    cooperating with the United Nations, have enabled at least the
    conditions of orderly life to remain. On the other hand, it is plain to
    me that it was never an option for us to continue to pursue a military
    solution or to be obsessed with Aideed or anybody else, to the exclusion
    of trying to build a peaceful society.
        So what the Prime Minister and I have recognized is that we have to
    do more to try to develop a political initiative that will enable not
    only the United States to withdraw but for the United Nations to remain
    as long as is necessary and in a more peaceful and constructive role.
    That is the only decision we have made to date.
        Prime Minister Ciampi. I have nothing to add to what President
    Clinton said, and I already said before what the Italian position was,
    which is to give a new political dimension which prevails over a U.N.
    intervention of Somalia. Therefore, our action is with the U.N., and I
    am very happy that this coincides with the President's feeling and that
    is to promote this action. And without this, a purely military action
    would not make any sense.
        The President. Thank you very much.

    Bosnia

        Q. Mr. President, on Bosnia----
        The President. I will take one question on Bosnia.
        Q. Mr. President, with the cease-fire agreement now apparent in the
    former Yugoslavia, will this lead to the sending of 25,000 U.S. troops
    there as peacekeepers? And what is your opinion of this peace agreement?
        The President. Well, first of all, keep in mind what was agreed to.
    What is was agreed to was a cease-fire and the agreement to begin
    talking again. We are hopeful about this but also properly wary. I mean,
    there's been no territorial agreement, and that is the nub of the
    controversy. So we hope very much that next week there will be real
    progress to provide a humane and decent life in the future for the
    Bosnians.
        I have said all along that--going back to February--that the United
    States would be prepared to participate in a multinational peacekeeping
    effort there if there were a fair settlement, generally and freely
    entered into by the Bosnian Government, which we have supported. But
    while the signs of the agreement are hopeful, it is important not to
    overread them. There has not been an agreement in the major areas of
    contention yet.
        So next week, or soon thereafter, if an agreement is reached that
    the United States can evaluate and act on, I can answer that question,
    but I can't answer that question until there is an agreement that we
    know is a full and fair agreement that we have some sense is
    enforceable.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President's 26th news conference began at 1:43 p.m. in the
    East Room at the White House. Following his opening remarks, Prime
    Minister Ciampi spoke in Italian, and his remarks were translated by an
    interpreter.