[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

[[Page 1532]]

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.