    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [June 8, 1999]
    [Pages 900-901]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Prior to Discussions With President Arpad Goncz of Hungary and an Exchange With Reporters
    June 8, 1999

        The President. Let me just say briefly, again, how grateful I am to
    have this opportunity to welcome President Goncz to the United States
    and to reaffirm our strong friendship with Hungary and what a good time
    it is for this visit to be occurring, as we are doing our best to bring
    an end to the conflict in Kosovo, to reverse the ethnic cleansing, and
    to build a new future for all of southeastern Europe.
        I know all the Americans here know that there are hundreds of
    thousands of ethnic Hungarians living in Vojvodina, in northwestern
    Serbia. This is a very, very important issue for Hungary, and we are
    determined to bring it to a successful conclusion, to reverse the ethnic
    cleansing, and to see the refugees go home. And the President and his
    country's support of this endeavor has been absolutely critical.

    Resolution of the Situation in the Balkans

        Q. Mr. President, on Kosovo, do you expect the U.N. Security Council
    to pass this resolution; and, if it does, do you expect that Milosevic
    will comply in good faith?
        The President. Well, the answer to the first question is, yes, I
    expect the U.N. Security Council will adopt it.
        Q. No veto?
        The President. I don't expect so. The Russians are supporting it. We
    got the agreement in Bonn this morning, early our time, and I had a talk
    already with President Yeltsin about it.
        In terms of compliance, that's what we're interested in. We want to
    see compliance. And when there is evidence that full withdrawal has
    begun, we will suspend the bombing and then monitor that for compliance.
    But keep in mind, our military people in the military-to-military
    contacts between NATO and the Serbs will work out the logistics of Serb
    withdrawal and the international security force coming in, so as not to
    create a vacuum. And I think all that will be worked out in a
    satisfactory manner. But our interest is in--our opinions won't matter;
    what will matter is what actually happens.
        Q. Mr. President, will the Russian troops, peacekeepers, be under
    NATO control, command?
        The President. I don't expect that to happen, but I do expect that
    there will be an acceptable level of coordination, the way we worked it
    out in Bosnia. I hope there will be something like what we did in
    Bosnia, because it worked there. We had the command and control intact
    so that our soldiers and our mission could be protected. The Russians
    were involved, as it happens, in Bosnia, as you know, in the American
    sector, where we worked together with them very closely. And I have been
    very pleased with that cooperation. I think it's quite important for the
    Russians to be involved in this.

    Reconstruction of the Balkans

        Q. Once the peace will be implemented, what commitment does the U.S.
    have to reconstructing the region? How will the new Marshall plan look
    like, and what role Hungary can play in that?
        The President. Well, it's interesting, that's what the President
    said to me this morning, that the most important thing is that we
    rebuild the region now. As you know, at the NATO meeting here in
    Washington a few weeks ago, we had a meeting in which all of us
    committed to be a part of the reconstruction of southeastern Europe. The
    details will have to be worked out. I expect the EU will be in the

    [[Page 901]]

    lead. The United States will certainly support that.
        But what I would like to see is all the countries in the region
    participating, and I'd like not only the analogy of the Marshall plan
    but also the work that was done between the West and Hungary, Poland,
    and the Czech Republic after the Berlin Wall fell. That is, we should be
    supporting democracy and human rights, as well as economic development.
        Obviously, I hope that Serbia will be a part of that. But in order
    to be a part of that, I think Serbia will have to observe the same
    standards and have the same sort of government and the same devotion to
    the human rights of its people and to others that all the other
    countries in the region have.
        But the plan is yet to be worked out. We don't have the details of
    that yet, but there's plenty of time for that.

    Resolution of the Situation in the Balkans

        Q. Ten years ago Slobodan Milosevic took away the autonomy of the
    other provinces in Serbia. Will that be addressed in the final peace
    plan?
        The President. First things first, here. First things first.
        Q. What do you suspect Mr. Milosevic is up to, sir, in delaying
    implementation of the agreement?
        The President. Well, I think the main issues, at least for the last
    72 hours, were involved with the nature of the U.N. resolution. That was
    resolved today. So now we'll just have to see what happens with the
    military-to-military contacts. The most important thing now is that we
    get something that is, A, verifiable and, B, that will work--which means
    we have to know that they're withdrawing; we have to have a schedule for
    the introduction of the international force.
        Keep in mind the big picture here. The big picture is to reverse the
    ethnic cleansing, to bring the Kosovars home, to have them safe and be
    able to govern themselves, and to have an international security force
    with NATO at the core. So we have to watch for the big picture. And
    that's why even yet, and notwithstanding this very good development, we
    have to sound some note of caution here. We have to work on it.

    Movie Ratings/Youth Violence

        Q. On the movie ratings, sir, did you seek greater enforcement
    because Hollywood was lukewarm to the idea of signing on to the national
    campaign against violence in film?
        The President. No. No, I think there should be greater enforcement
    of the existing laws, that Congress should pass the commonsense gun
    legislation that I've recommended, and there should be a national
    grassroots campaign against youth violence.
        I'll make you a prediction: I believe that there will be a
    significant number of people in the entertainment community who will
    participate in it, because a lot of them have said something to me about
    it. And I think that the public ambivalence you see is more their
    uncertainty about, well, are we agreeing to censorship; are we getting
    into trouble here? But I think if they just go back to the beginning--
    which is, we've got a lot of children in trouble in this country;
    they're subject to too much violence through media and cultural
    contacts; and it's too easy for them to get guns. And if we all work at
    it that way, so that nobody is pointing a finger at anybody else, I
    think we'll have good participation from the entertainment community,
    and I'll be surprised if we don't.

    Hillary Clinton's Possible Senate
    Candidacy

        Q. Do you think you'd really be happy as a Senate husband?
        Q. Is there any doubt she'll run, sir?
        The President. I'll be happy if she's doing what she wants.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:36 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these
    remarks.