[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[July 11, 1994]
[Pages 1238-1239]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Luncheon Hosted by Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany in 
Bonn
July 11, 1994

    Chancellor Kohl, distinguished guests, on behalf of my wife and 
myself and our entire delegation, let me first thank you for receiving 
us so warmly, for arranging such wonderful weather and such a wonderful 
feeling of hospitality.
    Let me begin by thanking the Chancellor for his very fine statement. 
I found myself listening to him describing his vision of the present and 
the future and imagining what I would say when I stood to speak myself. 
And it reminded me of what so often happens at the G-7 meetings or NATO 
meetings. They call on me, and I say, ``I agree with Helmut.'' 
[Laughter]
    But let me say that the United States does strongly support the 
movement toward a more united Europe and understands that Germany's 
leadership toward a truly united Europe is critical. We see today the 
growing strength of the European Union and NATO's new Partnership For 
Peace, which has 21 nations including Russia, the other former republics 
of the Soviet Union, the former Warsaw Pact countries, and two formerly 
more neutral countries, Sweden and Finland, all signed up to work with 
us toward a more secure Europe in which all nations respect each other's 
borders.
    Chancellor, I thank you especially for your kind remarks about the 
American military and their presence in your country over these last 
decades.
    The thing that is truly unique about this moment in history is that 
all of us through NATO and the Partnership For Peace are seeking to use 
our military to do something never before done in the entire history of 
the nation state on the European Continent: to unify truly free and 
independent nations of their own free will in a Europe that is truly 
free together, rather than to have some new and different division of 
Europe that works to the advantage of some country and to the 
disadvantage of others.
    To be sure, no one knows for sure what the future holds or whether 
this can be done, but for the first time ever sensible people believe it 
is possible and we must try. If we are able to see a united Europe 
through common democracies, the expansion of trade, and the use of 
security to protect freedom and independence rather than to restrict it, 
this would be a truly momentous event in all of human history.
    We may all debate and argue about exactly how this might be done and 
what should be done next and whether the next step should be one of 
economics, or politics, or strengthening the Partnership For Peace. But 
there is one thing on which we must all surely agree: The future we 
dream of cannot be achieved without the continued strong, unified 
efforts of Germany and the United States.
    In closing, I would like to just refer to a bit of American history. 
What we have done together since the end of the Second World War is 
familiar to all of you. But some of you may not know that my country, 
from its very beginning, has been strengthened by people from Germany 
who came there first primarily to the State of Pennsylvania, known for 
its tolerance and openness to people of different racial and ethnic and 
religious groups.
    Just one week ago on this day, one week ago today, we celebrated the 
218th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. As soon as the 
Declaration of Independence was issued, it was immediately reprinted in 
German so that it could be given to the colonists in our colonies who at 
that time still only spoke or read German. I might say, today, 
unfortunately, more of you speak our language than we speak yours, but 
we're trying to do better. [Laughter]
    At any rate, down to the present day, after 218 years, there are 
only two copies of the original German printing of the American 
Declaration of Independence in existence. And some of your freedom-
loving fellow citizens have purchased one of those copies for the German 
Historical Museum.

[[Page 1239]]

    And so, Chancellor Kohl, it is here today, and I am honored to be 
here with it. And I hope all of you will have a chance to view it as a 
symbol of our unity and our devotion to freedom. Thank you very much.
    I would like to now offer a toast to a free, democratic, and unified 
Germany, with great thanks for our common heritage and our common 
future.

Note: The President spoke at 1:30 p.m. at the Petersburg Guest House.