[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
[June 11, 2008]
[Pages 783-789]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's News Conference With Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in Meseberg, Germany
June 11, 2008

    Chancellor Merkel. Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I see 
that there are quite a number of you who have made the trouble to come 
here today. I would like to welcome you very warmly. Let me say that I'm 
delighted to be able to have this press conference together with the 
American President after our talks here today. Yesterday we had very 
intensive talks over dinner. We had intensive talks this morning. We're 
going to continue them over lunch later on. Let me say that I'm very, 
very pleased to have the President of the United States here as our 
honored guest in this guest house of the Government.
    We had a very good atmosphere. This atmosphere shows--I think shows 
very clearly that we have constructive dialogue at virtually all levels 
on virtually all issues. We've had that for quite some time, and we're 
going to continue this dialogue in the next few months to come.
    We debated on the issues that are of global importance. First, the 
world trade round--Doha--I'm very glad to note that

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we have a common interest in seeing this Doha round to come to a 
successful conclusion. Free trade--particularly looking at the problems 
that developing countries have, as regards food, for example, food 
supplies, food prices--I think this trade round is absolutely essential 
for a balanced situation in the world at large. We have every chance to 
come to a successful outcome. We will see to it. We will pool all our 
efforts in order to bring this about, and also in the period leading up 
to the G-8, we will, hopefully, be able to activate all of our efforts.
    This G-8 meeting in Japan will deal with very important issues, for 
example, with climate change. During the G-8 meeting, there will be also 
a so-called meeting of the major emitters. And we do hope that all of 
the issues that we started to talk about in Heiligendamm can be brought 
forward and--in the sense that it is made clear we need a global 
agreement under the roof of the United Nations. But each and everyone 
has to take his or her share of that particular issue, and developing 
countries obviously will be in on this too.
    The Heiligendamm process will also be continued. That is to say, the 
O-5 will be in on this, and what will be in the foreground here are food 
prices, energy prices. We also discussed this here in our meeting. There 
are basically two things that I think we need to do. On the one hand, 
there are a lot of speculations that are possible because--as regards 
energy prices--because the consumption and the demand is not yet sort of 
safely predictable. So we need to tell those countries how they intend 
to make themselves independent of gas and oil supplies--to these 
emerging economies. How can we actually further develop technology? What 
could we as industrialized country provide these emerging economies as 
regards technology, modern technology?
    We in the European Union have initiated a number of activities. 
Particularly, Germany has held a very intensive discussion also on what 
renewables and new technology means in this respect.
    We talked about the transatlantic dialogue, about projects that are 
also quite difficult. Yesterday there was the EU-U.S. summit, or rather 
2 days ago, and a lot of these issues were also on the agenda there.
    As regards transatlantic economic cooperation, I would like to see 
us work together close also on biofuels. We have taken over very clear 
commitments here. We also know we need to have certain standards. We 
must not come into competition with food production, for example, here.
    Then on international issues, Afghanistan was discussed, progress in 
the Middle East, Iran--the offers we put on the table to Iran, but also 
the fact that if Iran does not meet its commitments, then further 
sanctions will simply have to follow. We again said we want to give room 
for diplomatic solutions. We want to give diplomacy a chance, but we 
also have to stay on that particular issue.
    These were constructive, very intensive talks, talks that were 
characterized by a friendship between us. And I think this can lend a 
contribution towards solving a number of issues that are outstanding in 
the world at large, and we show at the same time transatlantic 
cooperation between Germany and the United States is working very well. 
Thank you again, Mr. President, for coming, and a very warm welcome.
    President Bush. Madam Chancellor, thank you for the invitation to 
this beautiful place, a modest little cottage by the lake. It is--I'm 
really glad you thought of this location. Laura 
and I loved our dinner last night. For those in the German press who 
thought I didn't like asparagus, you're wrong. [Laughter] The German 
asparagus are fabulous.
    But anyways, it's a great place for--to relax and have a good 
discussion. Our relationship is strong, and our relationship is active. 
And I assured the Chancellor that

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when I say I'm going to sprint to the finish, that's what I mean. And 
that we had a lot of--we've got a lot of issues that we can talk about.
    I first want to thank the German people for their contributions to 
helping the people of Afghanistan realize the blessings of a free 
society. I know this is a controversial subject here, but I hope when 
the Afghanistan debates go forward, I hope people here think of young 
girls who couldn't go to school in the past but now can, or think of 
mothers who bring their babies to health clinics for the first time; 
think about farmers who now have got access to markets to help deal with 
food shortages. This is hard work--I understand that--to help a young 
democracy grow after years of tyranny, but I believe it's necessary 
work. And, Madam Chancellor, I appreciate your leadership on this issue.
    I also want to thank you for the contributions you're making to the 
young democracy in Iraq as well. This has obviously been a contentious 
issue between our countries in the past, but what shouldn't be 
contentious is the mutual desire to help advance freedom in the Middle 
East as the great alternative to the ideology of the haters and the 
murderers, those who espouse violent extremism to advance their agendas.
    We talked about, you know, progress in the Holy Land for the 
establishment of a Palestinian state. I'm still optimistic that we can 
get a state defined, clearly understood by both parties before the end 
of my Presidency.
    We talked about Iran, of course. I told the Chancellor my first 
choice, of course, is to solve this diplomatically. All options are on 
the table, and that--but the first choice is to solve this problem by 
working closely together, by sending a dual message, which has been the 
consistent policy of this administration, that if you verifiably suspend 
your enrichment programs, you'll end your isolation, and there's a way 
forward for you.
    The Iranian regime has made a choice so far, and it's a bad choice 
for the Iranian people. The Iranian people deserve better than being 
isolated from the world. They deserve better from having, you know, 
their Government held up as, you know, unsafe and not trustworthy. And 
so the message from the EU Foreign Minister, Solana, will be, there's a better choice for you. And 
we'll see what choice they make.
    We talked about Lebanon and the need for that young democracy to 
survive. We did talk about global climate change, of course. The 
Chancellor started a very good process here in Germany nearly a year 
ago. As a result of her leadership, the United States is working very 
closely with, you know, other major economies to develop a common goal. 
Step one of solving a problem is for nations who actually emit carbon 
dioxide to agree to a goal. And that's just not European nations, that's 
the United States along with China and India. Once that goal is agreed 
to, then develop long-term and interim strategies that are binding 
strategies to meet those goals.
    And so that's the process we're going forward. It turns out, the 
major economies meeting is working concurrently with the G-8, meeting at 
the same time as the G-8. And the objective is to be able to announce a 
long-term binding goal at the G-8 as well as the major economies 
meeting, Madam Chancellor, on a process that you started.
    We talked about Doha. You know, it's--I'm a free trader; the 
Chancellor is a free trader. The question is, you know, is there a 
commitment to free trade in the face of protectionism? A lot of 
protectionism in the American political scene these days. I'm sure 
there's some protectionism here in Germany. I happen to think it would 
be, you know, disastrous for the world economy and disastrous for poor 
nations if we didn't trade freely and fairly.
    And so one way to make that commitment is for the Doha round to 
succeed.

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I assured the Chancellor that we're committed to the Doha round. We will 
work hard to achieve it. The Transatlantic Economic Council is a very 
important council that we started together as a way to resolve our 
differences to make sure that trade is fair and free.
    All in all, I--relations with Germany are strong, as I told you. And 
that's good, and that's important. And, Madam Chancellor, I want to 
thank you for your friendship as well.
    Chancellor Merkel. Well, we now have the possibility to take 
questions. Maybe we ought to start with a German correspondent.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    Chancellor Merkel. You will get a microphone, don't worry.

Iran/Germany-U.S. Relations

    Q. Mr. President, Madam Chancellor, you spoke about Iran at some 
length. In Israel, the press writes that Israel might well contemplate 
action against this threat that Iran poses to them. What would be your--
what are you saying, Mr. President, to the Israeli Government? And you 
said, Chancellor, give diplomacy a chance. Madam Chancellor, Mr. 
President, how long would you say diplomacy has to be given a chance? 
Can we exclude that during your term in office military action will be 
taken--will take place against Iran, Mr. President?
    And you, Chancellor, how do you assess the era of George Bush? In 
your party, one of your leading party members said that you will not 
miss George Bush. Will you miss him?
    And a question directed to both of you. Why do you, Mr. President--
--
    Chancellor Merkel. I think--don't ask for too long.
    Q. ----but why do you--why are you seen as so unpopular, Mr. 
President, in Germany?
    President Bush. I just told you that all options are on the table, 
and my first choice is to solve this diplomatically. And the best way to 
solve it diplomatically is to work with our partners, and that's exactly 
what we're doing. And the message to the Iranian Government is very 
clear: that there's a better way forward than isolation, and that is for 
you to verifiably suspend your enrichment program. And the choice is 
theirs to make. Obviously, we want to solve this issue peacefully, and 
so we'll give diplomacy a chance to work. And I want to thank the 
message that came out of the EU meeting yesterday, which is that if they 
choose to be--continue to be obstinate, there will be additional 
sanctions.
    Chancellor Merkel. We talked just now at some length about this. I 
very clearly pin my hopes on diplomatic efforts. And I believe that 
diplomatic pressure actually already has taken effect. If you look at 
the situation in Iran on the ground, you see that quite clearly. These 
efforts can have a success, but this presupposes, obviously, that the 
global community is sort of unified. Both in the European Union and in 
the world Security Council, we have to continue this common approach. We 
cannot exclude either that there may well be a further round of 
sanctions, and those need to be negotiated in the Security Council of 
the United Nations.
    What's important now is to see to it that this last round of the 
sanctions is actually implemented and can take effect, because the 
effectiveness of sanctions is actually then proved only once they are 
taken seriously. And we are under certain--quite a considerable pressure 
to act together and in concert. And we in the European Union will do 
everything to see to it that this actually happens.
    As regards our relationship, you know that this is a relationship 
characterized by friendship. It's a direct and candid relationship. When 
there are differences of opinion--whenever there were differences of 
opinions, we actually called a spade a spade. It's actually nice about 
the President that you can actually call a spade a spade

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with him. And when, for example, I had--as regards to the climate change 
discussion last year, this year, when we--ever we had differences of 
opinion, there was a way forward; there was a constructive way forward.
    And I think that this initiative on climate by the European Union is 
a very important initiative. The President himself took, actually, 
forward action on this, apart from our military action that we do 
together, for example, in Afghanistan, in the general international 
negotiating processes.
    We also need on other areas between the European Union and the 
United States, not only Germany and the United States, a lot of close 
cooperation in many areas. And there was always greater--great openness 
here between us. This cooperation is fun, I must say. And as the 
President said, it is going to be a sprint to the last day of his 
office. And I trust--often trust that we shall have other similar 
meetings of this kind, candid and open and constructive.
    I'm looking forward to the G-8 summit in Japan. I hope that we can 
make further progress on climate protection, which--talking about 
targets now--that is to say, some kind of binding targets--I think is 
already great success.

Iran

    Q. Thank you, sir. Mr. President, back on Iran, can you talk a 
little bit about--well, Iran has signaled that it seems likely to reject 
Mr. Solana's offer, presenting on behalf of you and the EU. What have 
you and your European counterparts agreed upon in terms of new measures 
against Iran if that is indeed the case?
    And to Chancellor Merkel, what is Germany willing to do 
specifically, whether in implementing the sanctions already in place or 
taking further measures beyond those?
    President Bush. That's exactly what we discussed: How do you 
implement sanctions that are already in place, and should we levy 
additional sanctions? Our position is, is that we ought to enforce the 
sanctions that are in place, and we ought to work with our allies to 
levy additional sanctions if they choose--if the Iranians choose to 
continue to ignore the demands of the free world.
    Chancellor Merkel. I personally have always come out very strongly 
in favor of seeing to it that sanctions are decided at the level of the 
United Nations Security Council too, because including China and Russia 
obviously makes for much greater effectiveness of such sanctions. But 
that doesn't exclude that within the European Union too, we may discuss, 
for example, are further possibilities open, for example, in the banking 
sectors? But these further possibilities, these further measures, must 
not lead to a situation where at the greater--the bigger stage, so to 
speak, we then relent, because the more countries are in on this, the 
more the effect--the more effective the impact will be on Iran, for 
example.
    We always think that quite often, on the one hand, people like to 
reject certain measures to be taken, but let us think of the people in 
Iran. This is what is essential. I think these people deserve a much 
more--sort of a better outlook also, as regards their economic 
prospects. And we would hope for the leadership in Iran to finally see 
reason. I mean, just look at the reports of the IAEA. They--it says 
clearly--the report states clearly that certain violations of agreements 
that were entered into have taken place. And we--it means that we need 
to react to this, even if it--with further sanctions, if that's 
necessary.

Military Operations in Iraq

    Q. Mr. President, on the way to Europe, you gave a very interesting 
interview for the Times newspaper in which you basically said that you 
regret your war rhetoric. Now I'm wondering, do you actually just regret 
your war rhetoric, or do you regret having gone to war with Iraq?
    President Bush. I don't regret it at all. Removing Saddam Hussein 
made the world a safer place. And yes, I told the guy--

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the guy said, ``Now what could you do over?'' First of all, you don't 
get to do things over in my line of work. But I could have used better 
rhetoric to indicate that, one, we tried to exhaust the diplomacy in 
Iraq; two, that I don't like war. But, no, the decision to remove Saddam 
Hussein was the right decision.
    Myers [Steven Lee Myers, New York Times]. I mean--no, no, Eggen [Dan 
Eggen, Washington Post], Eggen, excuse me. I called you yesterday, 
Myers. What's the difference? [Laughter]

Iraq-U.S. Security Agreement/German Role in Iraq

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, sir.
    President Bush. Yes, no problem. [Laughter]
    Q. Speaking of Iraq, there are increasing controversy in Iraq over 
the security agreement that's being negotiated. Some top Iraqi officials 
are calling for a dramatic reduction in the U.S. presence. Does this 
concern you that the direction that those negotiations are going in?
    And, Madam Chancellor, does this have any impact on your approach 
towards Iraq?
    President Bush. First of all, I think we'll end up with a strategic 
agreement with Iraq. You know, it's all kinds of noise in their system 
and our system. What eventually will win out is the truth. For example, 
you read stories, perhaps in your newspaper, that the U.S. is planning 
all kinds of permanent bases in Iraq. That's an erroneous story. The 
Iraqis know--will learn it's erroneous too. We'll be there at the 
invitation of the sovereign Government of Iraq.
    And I strongly support the agreement because I think it helps send a 
clear message to the people of Iraq that, you know, that security you're 
now seeing will continue. And one of the lessons of Iraq is, is that in 
order for a democracy to develop or in order for an economy to develop, 
there has to be a measure of security, which is now happening. And so I 
think we'll get the agreement done.
    And as I said clearly in past speeches, this will not involve 
permanent bases, nor will it bind any future President to troop levels. 
You know, as to--look, Eggen, you can find any voice you want in the 
Iraqi political scene and quote them, which is interesting, isn't it? 
Because in the past you could only find one voice, and now you can find 
a myriad of voices. It's a vibrant democracy; people are debating. 
There's all kinds of press in the Iraqi scene, of course, to the benefit 
of the Iraqi society.
    And I deal with Prime Minister Maliki. 
He appreciates our presence there, and he understands that we're 
returning on success. As the situation merits and the situation 
improves, we're bringing our troops home. And I'm pleased with the 
progress. I don't know whether or not it's--the progress has made it 
here to Germany or not yet, but the progress in Iraq is substantial, and 
it's going to help change the Middle East for the better. And I love the 
idea of having--giving people a chance to live in a free society. The 
blessings of freedom are--shouldn't be just in a regional blessing. I 
believe freedom is universal, and I believe freedom yields peace.
    Madam Chancellor.
    Chancellor Merkel. Well, obviously, from the German side too, and 
the European side for that matter, we have every interest, indeed, a 
vital interest in seeing Iraq taking a turn for sort of a good kind of 
development. I invited the Iraqi Prime Minister here to Germany, and I 
think he will pay us the honor of a visit. We have been trying to have 
economic relations. We've also, outside of Iraq, also trained security 
personnel, and we're ready to continue that.
    So everything we can do beyond a sort of military presence, 
everything we can do as regards civilian building up of the country, 
assisting them, is something that we're continuing to doing. And I would 
like to very much look forward to the visit of the Prime Minister. We're 
glad to see progress

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happening there on the ground, because it's in our vital interest to see 
to it that this region takes a turn for the better, and it's in the 
interest of the region too.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President's news conference began at 11:34 a.m. at Schloss 
Meseberg. In his remarks, he referred to European Union Foreign Minister 
Javier Solana Madariaga; and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq. 
Chancellor Merkel referred to Outreach 5 (O-5), a group of five 
important emerging economies that works with the G-8. Chancellor Merkel 
and a reporter spoke in German, and their remarks were translated by an 
interpreter.