[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[June 7, 1994]
[Pages 1055-1059]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Interview With the French Media in Paris
June 7, 1994

Europe

    Q. Are you disappointed with Europe today as opposed to the kind of 
determination it showed 50 years ago?
    President Clinton. No. No, because I don't think the two situations 
are easily comparable; it's not the same thing. I think the real 
question is, how is Europe today as compared with after the Second World 
War or after the First World War? And I think the answer is, we're doing 
much better than we did after the First World War, in a roughly similar 
time, with a lot of uncertainty in the world but where no one's security 
seems to be immediately at risk.
    I see Europe coming together politically, economically, in terms of 
security. I see more cooperation with the United States economically 
with GATT, in terms of security with NATO and the Partnership For Peace. 
I see us working together to try to deal with the problem of Bosnia. I 
know it has not been solved, but after all, some progress has been made. 
The conflict has been limited. The Croatians and the Muslims have made 
an agreement. We are on the

[[Page 1056]]

verge of getting a recommended territorial settlement from our contact 
group.
    So I think that Europe is on the way to a better situation in the 
21st century. Have we solved all the problems? No. But I'm optimistic, 
especially after this trip.

[At this point, a question was asked and President Francois Mitterrand 
answered in French, but the translation was incomplete.]

Bosnia

    Q. I'd like to ask President Clinton a question, hoping that--
[inaudible]--problem--[inaudible]--President of your country--
[inaudible]--and he said that after 1919--[inaudible]--everything seems 
possible today. [Inaudible]--are coming out of a long period of--
[inaudible]--this is the best--[inaudible]--perhaps one day he might ask 
your boys to intervene again, for instance, in Bosnia?
    President Clinton. I do think the situation is similar to 1919, not 
the same but similar. But the difference is that in 1919, Europe did not 
unite and the United States withdrew. In 1994, Europe is growing 
together in terms of the economy and the political system and the 
security system, and the United States is still actively engaged in 
Europe.
    Are there circumstances under which we might commit American troops? 
Absolutely, there are. First of all, we still have a NATO commitment, 
which we intend to honor. Secondly, we have already put our pilots at 
the disposal of NATO in Bosnia in enforcing the no-fly zone and in 
having the airlift for humanitarian reasons. We have troops in----
    Q. [Inaudible]--more on the ground?
    President Clinton. Well, we have troops in Macedonia also to limit 
the conflict. We have said we would put in troops to enforce an 
agreement if an agreement was made but that we did not believe the 
United States should go into Bosnia to try to resolve the conflict in 
favor of one side or the other. And I think if we were involved there 
now in the U.N. mission, it would only make for more controversy and 
increase the likelihood of the international community being pulled into 
the conflict.
    If we can get the parties to agree--and I think President Mitterrand 
and I agree on this--if we can get the parties to agree to a settlement, 
then the United States is prepared to work with our allies to make sure 
that settlement is honored.

[President Mitterrand then responded in French, and two additional 
questions were asked and answered in French, but translations were not 
provided.]

Algeria

    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. Let me make sure I understand your question by 
restating our position. We have tried to support the current government 
in working with France, for example, to reschedule their debt. But we 
have also encouraged this government to reach out to dissident groups 
who are not involved in terrorism, who disavow terrorism. We have had 
some very low-level contacts with people who, themselves, have not been 
involved in terrorism. We don't support people who pursue violent means 
like that anywhere, and we won't.
    We hope that the present Algerian government will be able to broaden 
its base and reach out and deal with those with whom it has 
difficulties, who feel shut out, but who are committed to a peaceful 
resolution of these problems.
    We are very concerned about the rise of militant fundamentalism in 
the Islamic states. And the potential is enormous. There are--17 of the 
22 Islamic states in the world have declining incomes. Seventy percent 
of the Muslims in the world today are young people. The potential for 
explosion is great. And we have a great stake in promoting governments 
like the Moroccan government, for example. King Hassan has run a very 
responsible regime, has been helpful in peace in the Middle East, in 
many other ways. And we share the concern that the French have for the 
potential of the situation in Algeria getting out of hand. But what the 
United States wants to do is to stand up against terrorism and against 
destructive fundamentalism, but to stand with the people of Islam who 
wish to be full members of the world community, according to the rules 
that all civilized people should follow.

Rwanda

    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. No, but we're willing to help. We have already 
offered several million dollars in aid. And we have discussed with our 
friends in Africa the prospect of an African force, which we would help 
to finance and

[[Page 1057]]

which we would also support with personnel equipment and other armored 
equipment and other transportation assistance. We are in a position to 
help there, and I think we should.
    But I think many of the African nations are interested in trying to 
provide troops and helping to provide the manpower in that region. I 
think that is about all we can do at this time when we have troops in 
Korea, troops in Europe, the possibility of new commitments in Bosnia if 
we can achieve a peace agreement, and also when we are working very hard 
to try to put the U.N. agreement in Haiti back on track, which was 
broken.
    However, we do want very much to try to help in Rwanda. And we are 
prepared to help to finance it and to provide the armored support 
necessary if the African nations will provide the troops. I don't think 
it would take all that many troops to stop a lot of this fighting if 
several African nations would go in together and do it.

[A question was asked and President Mitterrand answered in French, but a 
translation was not provided.]

    President Clinton. If I might make one point about that. One of the 
things we learned in Somalia, where we were able to save hundreds of 
thousands of lives and where we lost some of our people, most of them in 
one unfortunate incident, was that even a humanitarian mission will 
inevitably be caught up in the politics of a country, unless people are 
starving and dying because of a natural disaster. If there is not a 
natural disaster causing all this human misery, then there is some 
politics behind people dying.
    So in this case, where it's even more obvious, that is, Rwanda--even 
more obvious what the political and military problems are than in 
Somalia--I think the U.N. was very wise in asking the African countries 
to take the lead because they will be there over the long run. That is 
where the partnerships must be built. That is where the national 
territorial boundaries must be respected. And countries like France and 
the United States should support them. But I think this is an important 
test for them. And if they can do it, it will mean much more over the 
long run to Africa.
    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. Yes.

[At this point, two questions were asked and President Mitterrand 
answered in French, but translations were not provided.]

International Economy

    President Clinton. I think this recommendation grows out of the work 
Mr. Delors has been doing about the problem of growth in Europe and 
generating jobs. And this is a problem, of course, that we will be 
taking up in another month when the G-7 meets in Naples, discussing 
this. There are many people, thoughtful people, who believe that there 
is a disconnection, if you will, between the real economy--that is, the 
economy in which people get up and go to work every day--and what 
happens in the financial markets and that perhaps the financial markets 
overreact to a little bit of growth, run the interest rates up, and then 
shut growth off before there is a real danger of inflation. So this is 
something which ought to be discussed.
    Now, whether there could ever be an economic security council, I 
don't know. Keep in mind the Security Council of the U.N. deals with a 
whole range of different issues on a case-by-case basis. We would have 
to think, what would the jurisdiction be; what could be done?
    But what Mr. Delors is doing, as he normally does, is asking us to 
think hard about a real problem for which there is presently no response 
in the global community. So I applaud him, but I can't say I have 
thought it through enough to endorse the idea.

Foreign Aid

    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. Well, we're prepared to invest quite a lot in it. 
We have brought down our defense budget quite a lot, from my point of 
view, as much as I think we should cut it. So I'm having discussions 
with my Congress now, asking them not to cut the defense budget any more 
and also to provide good increases in aid to many of the states of the 
former Soviet Union, not simply Russia but also Ukraine and other of 
those new countries. Now, we have a big stake in their success, also 
Eastern Europe. A lot of what needs to be done is in the way of assuring 
the success of their private economies and getting more investment and 
trade going.
    But I think we should--all the countries of the West need to be very 
concerned that now that communism is gone, what rises up in its

[[Page 1058]]

place succeeds. You don't want them to go back to sort of a precommunist 
state of almost hostility toward the rest of the world. So the market 
economy has to begin to take hold there and has to succeed for ordinary 
people. And we should help it do that.

[A question was asked and President Mitterrand answered in French, but a 
translation was not provided.]

International Economy

    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. Well, first of all, let me say that there is no 
simple answer to this. The United States has somewhat more flexible 
labor markets than most European countries inasmuch as the unemployment 
benefits, for example, are less generous and the average payroll cost, 
over and above wages, tends to be lower. That may be one of the reasons 
that even with a relatively open economy, we have a lower unemployment 
rate. But keep in mind, we pay a price for that. We have lower 
unemployment, but we also have had very little growth in wages over the 
last 20 years. And the inequality, the gap in earnings between the 
richest Americans and the middle class has been growing. And that's not 
a good thing for democracy.
    So I think what I hope we can do through the G-7, and perhaps 
through the OECD, is to really look at what all of us do individually 
about this problem, and see if we can reach the best conclusion about 
how you can maximize employment and still be fair to middle-income 
earners.
    Let me also say that I think over the long run, we will have to 
involve these labor questions and environmental questions in our trade 
dealings with the developing nations. That is, they should want not only 
investment from our countries and us to buy their products but also they 
should want the wage base in their own countries to grow at a reasonable 
rate.

[President Mitterrand then responded in French, but a translation was 
not provided.]

Media Criticism

    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. Well, let me say, every time I'm in Paris, I love 
being here. And yesterday, when I heard President Mitterrand make his 
wonderful speech, I envied the French. But I love my country. I don't 
like everything about our political system. And if you have a very broad 
range of freedom of speech, sometimes that freedom is abused, not only 
in getting into areas that shouldn't be gotten into, but sometimes you 
don't even have the truth.
    But that's just all part of it. I trust that, in the end, that our 
democracy will work its way through this. And all I can do is get up 
every day and do my job for the American people. I do the very best I 
can every day, and I'll let them worry about the attacks on me. If I 
weren't trying to change the country, if I weren't trying to do things 
that I believe will advance our country, then the people who oppose me 
wouldn't be attacking me, personally or otherwise. So I take it as a 
compliment and go on.
    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. Well, I have a pretty thick hide. You have to 
have a high pain threshold to be in politics in America today. But I 
say, on the book there, if people don't like my process--I like to get 
people together around a table and let everybody say what they want and 
argue and debate and fight. And I think that's the way ideas get fleshed 
out in a new and difficult time. I don't think you can have a hidebound 
decisionmaking process when you're entering a world where no one has the 
answers.
    But I'll say this, let my critics answer the results: We have 3.3 
million jobs in 16 months; the unemployment rate is down over a point 
and a half; the growth rate is up. Let them criticize my economic 
decisionmaking. We produce results. That's all that matters. The 
American people are better off, and we're going in the right direction. 
And so I can stand criticism if the results are there.
    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. I like that. [Laughter]

American Political System

    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton.  Well, perhaps, although the American people are 
more jealous of their executive power. I think if they lengthen the term 
of the President, they would only let him serve one term.
    Four years has really, normally has been enough. Now, in my case, 
there was really no honeymoon; I mean, they started campaigning 
immediately after I took office. But that's all part of it. I still 
think the more important thing is to keep sharply focused on achieving 
results for the people you represent.

[[Page 1059]]

    There are pluses and minuses to every system; there is no perfect 
political system. The challenge of democracy today is to mobilize 
people's energies enough to get things done. The real problem is, 
everywhere in countries, there are so many forces working against doing 
anything when what we need to do is to move on these problems, not just 
to talk about them but to do things. And that has been my whole 
orientation.

President's Goals

    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. Yes. Well, I want my country to go into the 21st 
century still strong and healthy, not just economically but spiritually. 
I want us to have stronger communities. I want us to be together, even 
though we're very diverse. And I want us to be engaged in the world, 
leading, playing a positive role. That is what I want. I think that's 
what we all want. That's what democracy should be able to produce in 
this time.

Hillary Clinton

    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. I don't know. She's a very able person. But she 
always told me, as long as we've been together, that she never wanted to 
run for office herself, that that was never one of the--she loves many 
jobs. And she works like crazy. She works very hard on things that she 
passionately believes in. But from the first time I met her, she always 
said she never wanted to run for elected office. The more I do it, the 
more I understand why. [Laughter]

[A question was asked and President Mitterrand answered in French, but a 
translation was not provided.]

    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. Thank you.
    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. Bill, Mr. President, either one.
    Q. [In French; translation not provided.]
    President Clinton. You know more about that than I do.
    Thank you.

Note: The interview began at 8:05 p.m. at the Elysee Palace. The 
interviewers were Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, TF1, and Christine Ockrent, 
FRANCE 2 television. In his remarks, the President referred to Jacques 
Delors, President, European Commission.