[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[April 2, 1996]
[Pages 529-534]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



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The President's News Conference With President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro of 
Italy
April 2, 1996

    President Clinton. Good afternoon. Let me say again, it's a great 
pleasure to have President Scalfaro at the White House. For 50 years, 
Italy has been one of America's closest allies, a pillar of the Atlantic 
Alliance throughout the cold war, a strong advocate for freedom and 
democracy in the years since.
    Over these many years of partnership, our Nation has had no better 
friend in Italy than President Scalfaro. The President began his public 
career with the founding of the post-war Italian state. He has served 
his country in a range of high positions, and he has always, always 
worked to strengthen the close cooperation between our nations. As 
President, he has stood firm for the values that we share, and America 
is grateful to President Scalfaro for his leadership and his wise 
counsel.
    This is our third meeting. Today we focused in large measure on our 
shared interests and effort in building a free, stable, and undivided 
Europe. Nowhere is this common commitment more evident than in our work 
in the former Yugoslavia. I salute the Italian soldiers who are 
participating in the mission in Bosnia. America's soldiers are proud to 
serve with them in what is truly a joint endeavor. They and the other 
members of IFOR are doing invaluable work. They're giving the people of 
Bosnia a chance for peace. They are carrying on Italy's tradition of 
shouldering responsibility in the region that began with Operation Deny 
Flight and Operation Provide Promise. Italy is helping to build bridges 
to Central and Eastern Europe, bridges that can extend security and 
prosperity and democracy across the entire Continent.
    As a member of NATO and the European Union, Italy is a force for 
cooperation and integration in Europe and around the world. I had the 
opportunity today to thank President Scalfaro for Italy's work in 
overcoming the old divisions in Europe and for his nation's global 
efforts to promote peace and security, from its support for the peace 
process in the Middle East to its vital help in the effort to halt 
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, to its commitment that we 
strongly share to win the struggle against terrorism.
    President Scalfaro told me about Italy's ambitious goals for its 
E.U. Presidency. The new transatlantic agenda, which I was proud to sign 
at Madrid at the U.S.-E.U. summit last December, promises to make our 
citizens on both sides of the Atlantic more secure and more prosperous. 
I am pleased with the cooperation we have enjoyed with Italy on problems 
such as international crime, narcotics, and refugees.
    Finally, let me say we had a brief discussion of political change in 
Italy and throughout the world. Every nation in the West, including 
America, has been undergoing a period of adjustment in the wake of the 
end of the cold war. We in the United States are convinced that Italy's 
democracy is strong, its economy healthy, its people committed to 
playing a vital and constructive role on the world stage in the future 
as they have for so many decades. We are very pleased about that and, 
again, very glad to welcome you, Mr. President, to Washington.
    President Scalfaro. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you 
for the invitation and for the welcome during the state visit. But above 
all, I would like to express my great satisfaction for the words that 
you have repeated during this meeting and that you have repeated to me 
when I finished my speech at the arrival ceremony.
    I have written down the sentences that have struck me the most and 
which are the reason for which I am so pleased with this meeting with 
you. As you said just earlier, Italy is a guiding force in the world. 
You added that in the meeting that we just had that we believe that 
Italy is a first-class ally in the international field, in all fields. 
And again, the American people--is very attached to the alliance between 
our two countries.
    This visit, which is a visit based on friendship, is a visit in 
which a head of state, such as myself, has lived through these 50 years 
following the end of the war, following the War of Liberation, and these 
were very difficult years after the war, difficult recovery years. And 
based on de Gasperi's policy, which has always been based first of all 
on the agreement among free people, de Gasperi always taught us that the

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fundamental approach of a state must be based, first of all, on foreign 
policy. And from this, in the logic of things, follows domestic policy. 
And therefore, this agreement among free people has as its pillar the 
United States of America, with the sacrifice made by their men and 
through the various stages that I have mentioned earlier, the initial 
agreements that we struck in Italy among the political forces. And it 
was because of this that we recognized in human rights and the values of 
mankind the values of peace.
    Based on this approach, we have begun our fight against terrorism. I 
had the opportunity for 4 years when I was Minister of the Interior 
when, at the time, I was able to subscribe the first agreement with the 
United States on this issue. The danger of this violence, in other 
words, the violence against man and the attack against man's values, 
continues, persists today.
    I have said earlier and I repeat today, when faced with terrorism, 
negating human rights, there is no such thing as neutrality. There is no 
such thing as abstention. He who says he is neutral before the 
aggression against human rights, he who says that he has abstained from 
this, must undoubtedly be considered as someone as being against the 
values of mankind and man's dignity. This is what our meeting was based 
on, and this is why I'm so pleased with our meeting.
    Thank you, Mr. President.
    President Clinton. Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].

Russian Elections

    Q. Mr. President, from the IMF to your own administration, the West 
appears to be bending over backwards to support or bolster Boris Yeltsin 
as the Russian elections approach. How important is it for the West to 
impede a comeback of the Communist Party in Russia, and what would be 
the repercussions if the Communists succeed?
    President Clinton. Well, first of all, I think that none of us 
should take any position on the elections in another country, but the 
United States has been clearly on the side of reform in Russia, on both 
political and economic reform. And what would be the repercussions of an 
election, of a change in government in Russia would depend entirely on 
how the new government proceeded: what would be their policy on 
political reform, on democracy and freedom; what would be their policy 
on relating to their neighbors; what would be their policy on economic 
reform in relating to the rest of the world?
    So we have to judge--first of all, leave all free countries and free 
elections to their own devices, and then, secondly, we evaluate other 
countries based on what they do. But we have to say clearly that we are 
on the side of reform, political reform, democracy, respecting the 
rights of other countries, and economic reform.
    Could we have a question from an Italian journalist? Mr. President, 
would you like to call on----

Italian Elections

    Q. We are now in the largest democracy in the world. Can you confirm 
your doubts about the presidentialism? Do you see any reason for 
authoritary----
    President Clinton. Do I see any reason for what? Are you asking him 
or me? [Laughter]
    President Scalfaro. You're asking me a question? Okay. All right, 
just so we understand each other, because if--first, I'm going to ask--
all right, let's do it one thing at a time. I'd like to hear the 
question first. Your question is based on the assumption--and lucky you 
who has this assumption--that I am concerned about--if there is a 
Presidential solution. I don't have these concerns. And since this 
debate grew from a speech that I gave to the Parliament in Mexico last 
week, I said precisely that I do not have any objections to a state 
based on a Presidential system. Now, if this sentence means that I'm 
against it, then you can explain it to me. I also added that what I 
believe to be crucial is that the Parliament must have full powers. And 
I said that wisdom would have it that there must be able to have a 
synthesis between these two principles.
    Now, if somebody says that I said that the Presidential system is 
dangerous, then that means that you think something, and you attribute 
it to me. I think--I have thoughts, but I don't sublet my thoughts. This 
is as clear as I can be. Now if you want to debate it, then you can go 
ahead, but you can't forget the fact that in Italy a few weeks ago, just 
a few weeks ago, I asked the government to--I asked Senator Maccanico to 
create the government.
    This did not come from me, because according to our constitutional 
laws, the head of state must gather all of the proposals from all the 
parties--from the right wing of Mr. Fini, which

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had the support of Forza Italia, and these proposals were supported by 
the left wing of D'Alema. D'Alema said that--he said he could not--not 
be in favor of Maccanico, and that's how this whole thing started.
    Excuse me, one minute--in this whole exercise, the lady has a little 
bit more energy than the man, but you have to wait. In this attempt, 
there was a broad understanding on a semi-Presidential system, and a 
sentence that Fini expressed, and I think I'm going to repeat it 
verbatim here, is, ``without mortifying the Parliament in its exercise 
of its powers.'' And I won't add anything more, because the political 
forces don't want to add anything to it, and that's it.
    President Clinton. I feel as if we just got to sit in on a little 
family feud here. [Laughter]
    Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].

1996 Presidential Election

    Q. Mr. President, now that you know who your opponent will be in the 
November elections, what do you think of him? Also, this election is 
being called, rightly or wrongly, the center against the middle. What do 
you think are the real issues that will divide the two candidates?
    President Clinton. Well, first of all, I think we should put off the 
politics for a little longer. I mean, for many people this election has 
gone on for--since the second I took my hand off the Bible in 1993. And 
I think that's not always good for the United States. And we have work 
to do.
    Just last week, we at least extended the debt limit, passed the line 
item veto, something I have advocated for 3 years. We still have a 
balanced budget before us. I hope we can pass the right kind of balanced 
budget. We've got the welfare reform issue before us. We have a lot of 
other--we've got the antiterrorism legislation, which I still hope can 
be rescued.
    So I think we should work on this. And I think I should do my job, 
and Senator Dole should do his. And we should not have a work stoppage 
between now and November just because we've got an election. Then at 
some point in the future, we'll have our conventions, and there will be 
plenty of time to have the political campaigns.
    But I think the American people will sort out the differences pretty 
clearly. They laid their markers down last year. They passed their 
budget, and they said, ``If we have the White House and the Congress, 
this is what we intend to do for America.'' That's their message. Read 
their budget. And I have different views, which I made clear last year. 
And we will be able to amplify those as we go forward. There are other 
differences as well.
    But the main point is that we are not yet in an election--at least 
we shouldn't be--and we all are getting checks from the American people, 
both of us are and those who support us, to go to work and show up here 
every day. We shouldn't have a work stoppage between now and November. 
We ought to keep working until we pass a balanced budget, pass welfare 
reform, pass antiterrorism legislation, and keep going forward.
    Q. That's not going to happen.
    President Clinton. I don't think that you know that. I think that we 
might--I think we might do that. A lot of people thought that we 
wouldn't have the line item veto. I had to agree to wait until next year 
to exercise it, but I wanted it bad enough on the books that I was glad 
to do that. And we've done some other things that I think are worth 
doing. We lifted the earnings limits on Social Security, something I 
have long favored and I think will really benefit this country as the 
demographics of our work force change. So I think we can get things done 
here. We need to keep doing it.
    An Italian journalist.

Italian Elections

    Q. A State Department report foresees a key role for the ex-
Communist Party after the Italian political polls on April 21st. How 
would that affect the U.S.-Italian relationship?
    President Clinton. After the--how would what affect it? If we had a 
Communist-dominated government?
    Q. Yes.
    President Clinton. I'll answer the question the way I answered the 
question on Russia. First of all, we support freedom and democracy in 
democratic countries. So, if any government emerges as a result of the 
free choice of the people, under the rules of the constitution and laws 
of any country, that is that nation's business. We then evaluate those 
governments based on what their position is in relation to us: What is 
their economic position; what is their foreign policy position; what is 
their position on human

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rights and freedom? And that's what we would do with any government.
    And if you look at the whole history of the way the Italian 
governments have emerged and conducted themselves in the last 50 years, 
I don't know that we have any cause for concern, so I wouldn't express 
any here. I think that's up to the people of your country to decide what 
kind of government you have, and then you have to decide what the 
policies are.
    Brit [Brit Hume, ABC News].

1996 Presidential Election

    Q. Mr. President, to follow up on your last answer, Senator Dole and 
his advisers have indicated that the Senator will try during the course 
of this legislative session to pass as much of the Republican agenda as 
he can, to send it to you for your signature or, just as good for him 
politically, perhaps, your veto. Senator Daschle has indicated that he 
will do everything he can to block Senator Dole from doing that. So the 
very thing that you describe, the kind of political deadlock, election-
year deadlock, seems in prospect. I wonder if you might have some advice 
for both sides in that.
    President Clinton. That's what they say now, but you know, Senator 
Dole's just been through all these primaries, and you know, since the 
whole purpose of the primaries was to nominate someone that hopefully 
will defeat me in November, they had to--they ginned up a lot of red 
meat, and they got their juices flowing, and that's what they were doing 
out there.
    But I would just say that the right thing for the country is for us 
to pass a balanced budget plan. We have now both identified more than 
enough savings to get there. They know what I cannot accept. We have 95 
percent agreement, I think, on welfare reform, and we are very close on 
some other things; I just think it would be a mistake not to do this.
    So there will be still plenty of things we disagree on. I mean, 
after all, they put their marker down last year. You can see it in their 
budget. I mean, there's plenty of differences between us that won't be 
evaporated by anything we do that's good for America between now and 
November, but we both have jobs to do and we ought to do them.
    It may be that they will try to pass bills that they know that I 
will have to veto, but I'd far rather sign them. And I just hope we can 
avoid this sort of gridlock. There's no need for it, particularly if you 
look on the budget, if you look at how we've identified--the American 
people must have a difficult time understanding how both sides could 
identify more than $700 billion worth of savings, which is more than 
enough to balance the budget and give a middle-class tax cut to support 
childrearing, and not do it. I think that'll be very hard to explain. 
But I don't have a vote in Congress; I can only urge them to do it.
    Is there an Italian question?

Extraterritorial Impact of Sanctions

    Q. Mr. President, the U.S. has always been pro-free-trade as a 
country. But recently, Congress has passed a couple of bills, the 
D'Amato bill and the Helms-Burton bill, that are introducing secondary 
boycott and the concept of extraterritoriality of U.S. law. This will 
create a problem for many international companies, European companies 
and Italian companies who want to do business with the U.S. Don't you 
think that, by signing those laws, you will send the wrong message of 
the outside wall?
    And just a question for President Scalfaro. Mr. President, did you 
talk about Ustica and the fact that NATO may have important documents 
that would help to resolve this issue?
    President Clinton. Let me answer your first question. With regard to 
the Helms-Burton legislation, the United States believes that we need to 
take a very firm position in our dealings with Cuba, which is the only 
nondemocratic country left in our hemisphere and which recently shot 
down two American civilian airplanes over international airspace, in 
plain violation of international law.
    The Helms-Burton bill provides the President with a waiver authority 
which I believe makes it possible for me to implement that bill in a way 
that does not violate the commercial rules and regulations governing 
nations and that will not undermine our strong, broad-based, and 
consistent commitment to open trade among nations, and I will do my best 
to do that.
    Perhaps the President would like to answer the question you asked 
him.

1980 Ustica Island Airline Tragedy

    President Scalfaro. Yes, I did speak about this issue with President 
Clinton. Obviously, I didn't ask him the questions because this is a 
NATO issue, but I did ask him for his support for the Italian request, 
and I told him that this

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request did not come from political circles but came from a judge, the 
judge who has been responsible for this long trial.
    I also added that there is a right--the right for Italy, which is 
part of NATO, to know the facts. Second place, there's a right, and it's 
even stronger a right that cannot disappear, which is the families' 
natural right to know how their loved ones died.
    I also added that, in my opinion, that if we were to be denied this 
request, it could cause speculation which could not help anyone. 
President Clinton very kindly replied to me that he had never discussed 
this issue before in NATO, but that he would gladly examine the case and 
that he would give his support to the request made by the Italian 
judges.
    President Clinton. Ann [Ann Devroy, Washington Post].

Judge Harold Baer

    Q. Mr. President, is it proper for the White House to criticize a 
sitting Federal judge, and do you now regret appointing Judge Baer in 
New York?
    President Clinton. Let me answer--you have two questions: Number 
one, I don't regret appointing him; number two, I think it is proper for 
the White House to say, or for the President personally to say if he 
disagrees with a judge's opinion.
    After all, I think there's been a little overreaction to this. The 
judge has lifetime tenure. So that to insulate the judge in our system 
from pressure, that does not mean that any judge should be entitled or 
any court should be entitled not only to lifetime tenure but a gag rule 
on everyone else.
    So I supported the position taken by our United States Attorney in 
New York. On the other hand, I think that it's important not to get into 
the business of characterizing judges based on one decision they make. 
Judge Baer had a rehearing on it, made a decision, and I have nothing to 
add to what our United States Attorney said. But I think that it's very 
important that we say--at least for me to say--I support the system we 
have, I support the independence of the Federal judiciary. I do not 
believe that means that those of us who disagree with particular 
decisions should refrain from saying we disagree with them. It doesn't 
mean we won't obey them; we'll all obey them. But if we don't agree and 
we have reasons for not agreeing, we should be free to say that. And 
that's what I think should be done.
    Now beyond that, however, I don't think it's fair to just 
characterize a judge or judges in some sort of sweeping way, as 
apparently members of the other party are now beginning to do. And I'm a 
little perplexed by that since I think only three of my judges had any--
any of the ones I've appointed--had any Republicans voting against them. 
I believe all the rest of them went through without Republican 
opposition.
    And there have been many articles talking about how, number one, the 
judges I have appointed had the highest ratings from the American Bar 
Association of any President since the appointments have been made; 
number two, they were more diverse in terms of gender and race; but 
number three, I have been criticized from all sides because they are 
less ideological. I didn't--I have tried to appoint good, sensible 
people to the bench.
    So I hope that we won't have a big attempt to turn this into a 
political campaign issue. I think that it's obvious what is going on 
here. The people on the other side are sort of embarrassed about their 
crime record. They fought the crime bill. They fought the 100,000 
police. They fought the Brady bill. They fought the assault weapons ban. 
They fought things that they used to say they were for, so now they 
think they can sort of get well by making some outrageous claims about 
the judges I have appointed.
    But that does not mean that every American shouldn't feel free to 
express his or her opinion on a particular decision. That's why you give 
these judges the insulation, but you still permit the free debate.

Visiting Heads of State

    Q. You talked about European heads of state who come to the United 
States to promote themselves. Were you referring to a specific case?
    President Scalfaro. No, if I were referring to someone in 
particular, I would have said so. You know me better than that. I said 
that there is a tradition. It's not a new tradition, and you know it 
very well. This is the tradition that, following the Second World War, 
that heads of state come here because it's a huge publicity stunt that 
they used in their own countries, or they do it to promote themselves. I 
wanted to

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say that this is not my case, and I would be offended, and it would be a 
lack of respect for the United States and for the President of the 
United States, but also for Italy and for myself. And that's all I have 
to say.
    President Clinton. Thank you very much.

Note: The President's 117th news conference began at 12:36 p.m. in Room 
450 of the Old Executive Office Building. President Scalfaro spoke in 
Italian, and his remarks were translated by an interpreter.