[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 18 (Monday, May 10, 1993)]
[Pages 782-787]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With European Community Leaders

 May 7, 1992

    President Clinton. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We have 
just completed our first meeting of the leaders of the United States and 
the European Community. I would like to offer a warm welcome to 
Washington and the White House to Prime Minister Rasmussen and to 
President Delors.
    I had the pleasure of meeting with President Delors earlier, in 
March, and I'm delighted now to have the opportunity to see the Prime 
Minister of Denmark and the leader of the EC. Before I comment on some 
elements of the meeting, I want to describe first the attitude of this 
administration toward the European Community.
    It often seems to be the case that there is a great deal of focus, 
understandably, on some of the trade disputes that divide us rather than 
the bonds which unite us. It's useful to recall that our common ground 
is far, far wider than the areas of disagreement. The United States has 
long been a strong proponent of European unity and the importance of our 
transatlantic ties. Thirty-one years ago, President Kennedy made a 
statement that I believe holds as true today as it did then. He said, 
``We see in Europe a partner with whom we could deal on the basis of 
full equality in all the great and burdensome tasks of building and 
defending a community of free nations.'' That same vision guides this 
administration.
    The European Community is our largest single trade and investment 
partner. Our relationships with Europe are directly responsible for an 
inordinate number of American jobs, and if we cultivate that 
relationship properly and grow our trade and investment, it will mean 
more economic opportunities for the American people.
    Even more important perhaps is our shared commitment to democratic 
values, to the protection of basic human rights, and to our collective 
responsibility to assist others who aspire to those values in their own 
society. We fully support Europe's efforts toward further integration, 
and we will work with the European Community to achieve our common 
goals.
    We believe a strong and united European Community as a key partner 
in the pressing problems around the world is very much in the interests 
of the United States. I want our partnership to be effective in finding 
solutions to the problems that we face together and to those few 
problems which continue to divide us.
    Today we agreed to provide leadership to assure a successful 
conclusion to the Uruguay round. A new GATT agreement could spark 
economic recovery in Europe and create waves of growth around the world. 
I have worked quite hard on this in the last several weeks. Just a few 
days ago I met with the Finance Ministers and the Central Bankers from 
the G-7 countries. And I said to them what I said today to Prime 
Minister Rasmussen and what I reiterated to President Delors: The United 
States wants a successful GATT round, and we are prepared to take a lot 
of trouble to get it done. We agreed that we would do that. My guests 
and I are committed to wrapping up these negotiations by the end of the 
year. We directed our negotiators to proceed urgently with other trading 
partners to restore momentum to the negotiations. Our aim is to have 
tangible progress to report when Prime Minister Miyazawa hosts us in 
Tokyo in July.
    We also reviewed the continuing tragedy in the Balkans. We agreed to 
work closely to avert further aggression against innocent populations. 
I've already answered some questions about this today, and I think I 
will let my guests make their statements before we make further 
comments.
    We discussed our common efforts to support democratic reform in 
Russia, Ukraine, and the other newly independent states of the former 
Soviet Union. The results of the referendum in Russia clearly indicate 
sup- 

[[Page 783]]

port for the approach that we have taken. We agreed that the G-7 summit 
partners must continue to demonstrate their support for reform in Russia 
and in these other countries.
    I thank the EC leaders for the role they have played in encouraging 
the Middle East peace talks and the support they have given to the 
United States in working toward a successful conclusion to those talks. 
We also had a brief discussion about the growing similarity of our 
approaches toward protection of our environment and other global 
problems. These are areas in which we can do more together. I asked the 
Prime Minister for some advice on health care and how they dealt with 
that in Denmark. We talked a little bit about the role of training the 
work force and its impact on productivity and how we need it to make 
both Europe and the United States more competitive in the global 
environment. And we agreed that we had a lot of things that we could 
learn from each other on and work together on.
    We believe, finally, that we have proved in Europe and the United 
States that you can have societies that are diverse and strong, 
societies that have a rich mosaic of different cultures but band 
together in common values of democracy and economic freedom and human 
rights. We know from the hard experiences of this century the importance 
of collective action in Europe to advance our common security. For all 
these reasons, I believe today more strongly than ever that we share a 
future of cooperation and progress.
    Thank you both for coming to Washington. I look forward to the 
progress we can make together in the weeks and months and years ahead.
    Mr. Prime Minister.
    Prime Minister Rasmussen. Thank you, President. Mr. Prime Minister, 
ladies and gentlemen, I wish to join the President of the United States 
in his positive appreciation of the result of this meeting.
    We had, throughout, constructive talks. And of all important issues, 
I think we have been basing our talks on openness and on common ground. 
In view of the initiative of the Danish presidency to strengthen the 
transatlantic dialog, I find that the consultations today were most 
encouraging. May I mention that we have underlined and we did agree 
today, I think, that the American-EC consensus on the need to strength 
our cooperation, not least on the economic growth area and the need for 
creating new employment, is so important that it did play a major role 
in our discussion. And I feel that we also, as the true upholders of 
democracy and free markets, have a wide range of jobs to do together.
    That leads me, Mr. President, to the subject you mentioned yourself, 
which I feel that the whole world are waiting upon the next answer to 
give. We have had an extensive and useful discussion on the tragic 
conflict in the former Yugoslavia, in particular in Bosnia-Herzegovina. 
We both confined and confirmed ourself in having responsibility here. We 
both agreed upon the need to go forward together. And it is my view that 
this will happen. On Monday the Foreign Ministers will meet in Brussels 
of the EC. We have seen some new developments during the last couple of 
days. Let me mention the most important ones:
    The leadership in Belgrade have said they will isolate the Serbs in 
Bosnia. Consequently, we must keep President Milosevic to his word.
    Secondly, this means that the Bosnian Serbs now defy the whole 
international community's acceptance of the Vance-Owen plan. We, 
therefore, do not take the so-called Bosnian parliament's ``no'' for an 
answer.
    And thirdly, I think that the international community, in particular 
the United States, the European Community, and Russia, is considering 
ways to increase the pressure on the Serbs in Bosnia. And may I confirm 
also, Mr. President, that the effectiveness of the sanctions has been a 
very, very important--has an important effects, and I want to thank you 
for the effective cooperation on that area also.
    Let me finalize my comment about the Bosnian case. We keep all 
options open. We must continue to follow the path we have taken up until 
now, namely that any additional measure should be taken and that we 
should take it together under the auspices of the United Nations 
Security Council.
    Allow me to turn to a few other major issues which I think is 
important. You men- 

[[Page 784]]

tioned yourself, Mr. President, the revitalization of the war of the 
economy. I was very happy today to state that after comments by 
President Delors and yourself, we did confirm each other once more in 
more detail the progresses on the GATT negotiations and the Uruguay 
round should be realized and would be realized also so that we together 
at the G-7 meeting in summer can present some positive results.
    I feel also that our discussion about Russia was very promising, and 
I want to thank you about these interesting positive attitude. And may I 
finalize by underlining our environmental common issue and goals. Once 
more I feel that what we have done today is the next important step also 
in environmental question. What we do in Europe and what you do in the 
United States do have important issues and effects on both countries and 
situations.
    So what we shall do once more is to cooperate, be it economics, be 
in foreign policy, be it the tragic war in Bosnia. Thank you so much for 
a good meeting and very constructive attitude, Mr. President.
    President Clinton. Thank you.
    Mr. President.
    President Delors. President, Prime Minister, just a few words after 
the declaration of Mr. Rasmussen. My colleagues and myself thank 
President Clinton to give us the opportunity to discussion. I don't come 
back on Bosnia, but discussion was very fruitful just before an 
important meeting of the minister of foreign relations next Monday in 
Brussels.
    On the other subject, we have deepened our discussion on the Uruguay 
round. And since my first visit to President Clinton, I note that we 
have made progress together in terms of procedure and also in terms of 
substance. We concentrate our mind on the market access with the hope to 
finalize concrete results and to come back to Geneva through a 
multilateral declaration.
    We have also spoken about the economic outlook. For the first time, 
the Community has taken an initiative at the European level, mixed 
initiative with Community action and national action to improve the 
situation of the economy. We expect more growth with this first package, 
but we intend to rule over the situation and to complete, if possible, 
this package as far as the room to maneuver of the Community and each 
country allow the possibility to complete this package.
    And we have also discussed about the future framework of the large 
Europe with the efforts met by the Community to open their market to the 
Eastern European countries and also to have this country's close 
cooperation, not only on the economic field but also in the political 
field.
    Thank you.

Bosnia

    Q. Mr. President, does this mean that you are closer now to getting 
the European Community to match up tougher military action in Bosnia?
    President Clinton. Well, I think it means that the Prime Minister's 
words mean exactly what they say. The Prime Minister said to me in our 
conversation that he thought that some of the reports of the journey of 
Secretary Christopher across the European capitals had minimized the 
extent to which European leaders and citizens in Europe feel responsible 
to do more to try to put an end to the killing and the suffering in 
Bosnia, and that as long as I was committed to the idea that we ought to 
do these things together, he thought we would move forward together to 
take more aggressive steps.
    I told you, I can't be more specific than I have been. You know 
pretty much where I am, but I think I have to wait until Secretary 
Christopher comes home and gives me his report.
    Q. So far, though, they have not gone along with you.
    President Clinton. That's not entirely true. There has been a lot of 
agreement on what should be done. There is still some disagreement 
around the edges about what the overall specific tactical steps should 
be, but I think that there is a lot more agreement than you think. And I 
think in the next few days you will see a common approach emerging.
    Q. Mr. President, you talk about a common approach. Does that 
automatically assume the use of force? And is the United States willing 
to provide arms to the Bosnians?

[[Page 785]]

    President Clinton. I think you know how I feel about that. I think 
that the imposition of the arms embargo by the United Nations, before 
actually this country was even created and recognized, had the 
unintended consequence of giving the Serbs an insurmountable military 
advantage, which they have pressed with ruthless efficiency.
    So I feel very badly about what happened there. I think that's 
certainly one of the options that we have urged that be considered, and 
I think it's certainly one of the options that's still on the table. I 
think we've got to keep the heat on.
    Let me ask first--we ought to rotate this. Is there a member of the 
European press here? Anybody here from Denmark or from the European 
Community covering the European Community?
    Prime Minister Rasmussen. I see a couple of Danes over there.
    President Clinton. Could you call on them, Prime Minister? We're 
going to have some equal opportunity here.

European Community

    Q. Mr. President, do you understand the many things people don't 
want to join the EC?
    President Clinton. Don't want to join the EC?
    Q. Yes.
    President Clinton. Of course. That's a decision that's up to 
Denmark, of course. You'll get to vote on the Maastricht Treaty. But I 
can only--it's not for me to tell the people of Denmark how to vote, but 
I support the European Community. I support the Maastricht process. I 
hope it will prevail, but that's, of course, up to you.

Consultation With Congress

    Q. Mr. President, it appears, sir, that however things go, you may 
soon be asking Congress for some sort of approval or authorization for 
further action in the Balkans. Have you thought through, sir, what form 
you would want that to take and what it would be?
    President Clinton. I have given some thought to it, Brit [Brit Hume, 
ABC News]. I'm going to be heavily guided there by the leadership, the 
bipartisan leadership in the Congress and people who care most about 
these issues. I think that, again, before I make a final decision on 
that, I'm very, very anxious to talk to Senators Nunn and Lugar and the 
other four Senators who went across the region and all the way to Moscow 
in the last week. And obviously, it's important that I have my report 
from Secretary Christopher, but I've given some thought to it. I think 
it depends in large measure on the sense of the Congress about how we 
ought to proceed as well----

Bosnia

    Q. Mr. President, our bombing campaign during the Gulf war had only 
limited effectiveness. The Air Force was unable, for example, to take 
out the mobile SCUD missile sites. Given that fact, what rationale would 
there be for going to air strikes in Bosnia which is much more difficult 
terrain with artillery and installations that could be moved very 
easily?
    President Clinton. Well, let me answer you in this way. If I decide 
to ask the American people and the United States Congress to support an 
approach that would include the use of air power, I would have a very 
specific, clearly defined strategy to pursue and very clear tactical 
objectives for the use of that air power, which would have a beginning, 
a middle, and an end, and which not only I but our military advisers had 
advised me could be achieved.
    To be fair to the military in the Gulf, that's exactly what they 
said. If you remember, we had a different set of objectives in the Gulf 
and a very different opponent. The land was more open and easier to 
bomb, but they also were more heavily armed with missiles. So it was a 
completely different situation.
    I assure you today that if I decide to ask for the authority to use 
air power from the Congress and from the American people, I will make it 
very clear what the tactical objectives are, and they will be objectives 
that our military leaders say can, in fact, be achieved.

Health Care

    Q. You said that you asked Mr. Rasmussen about the health care in 
Denmark. What about social affairs? Could you use anything from Denmark 
or the Scandinavian welfare system?

[[Page 786]]

    President Clinton. Perhaps. One of the things that we talked about, 
generally, was the extent that which all of our countries are now facing 
common problems. But each nation in Europe and the United States has 
perhaps done one thing better or more completely or in a more advanced 
way than another nation. And I think--something that's important is not 
to reinvent the wheel.
    Yesterday I had a meeting with Republican leaders of the House and 
the Senate on the question of health care, and one of the things that 
encouraged me quite a lot is that some of them had actually traveled to 
Europe to look at some of the health care systems there. I think the 
more we can share with each other and learn from one another across a 
wide range, the better off we're going to be.
    Andrea [Andrea Mitchell, NBC News].

Bosnia

    Q. Mr. President, why do you think the Europeans have been so 
reluctant on the issue of lifting the arms embargo, whereas they have 
considered other options, but on that they seem to be fairly well stuck? 
And then I'd like it if Prime Minister Rasmussen could comment on his 
views on lifting the arms embargo.
    President Clinton. Well, I don't think it's for me to speak for the 
Europeans. I think the arguments against lifting the arms embargo are 
fairly clear. You might argue that it will only widen the violence. You 
might argue that during the time between when you vote to do it and when 
it has an impact, it will only encourage the Serbs to intensify their 
efforts to kill and to gain territory. I think you might argue that it 
might make it difficult in the end to have a settlement. I understand 
all those arguments. For me, they are outweighed by other 
considerations. But there are very serious concerns about that.
    Q. Mr. Prime Minister?
    Prime Minister Rasmussen. Yes. First of all, I think that what the 
President said, that we want to go together; and that, point two, we 
haven't closed any options, any options; and point three, I think that 
the discussion about lifting the weapons embargo, you cannot take that 
isolated.
    You have, as the President said, to evaluate and to take decisions 
upon the first step, the next step, and the next step. And you have to 
have clear political goals: what should you obtain, and what is at 
stake, and what is your means. So, in my mind--and I think we had a 
quite useful and constructive discussion--in my mind, you cannot exclude 
any options, which I have underlined, including the question you 
mentioned. But, on the other hand, I feel that you cannot discuss weapon 
embargo lifting without placing it in a whole range of issues with other 
steps. That is at stake in the discussion right now.
    The President. Susan [Susan Spencer, CBS News].

President's Approval Rating

    Q. A non-Balkan question. We have a poll out tonight that shows that 
your job approval rating has gone from 64 to 49 percent in the last 2 
months, with particular erosion on the economy, which is what most 
people think you were elected to fix. Why do you think this has 
happened, and what, specifically, do you think you can do about that?
    President Clinton. I think there are two reasons. One is that I've 
been forced to deal with a lot of other issues. Most voters in this 
country don't like it when you spend any time on foreign policy because 
of the economic problems of the country. Secondly, I think even though 
the voters overwhelmingly supported the job stimulus package, what they 
really want is for the gridlock to end. And thirdly, I think that there 
is an inevitable sense that things take--people want things to happen 
immediately that don't happen immediately. And finally, I think that the 
stimulus got more publicity than the budget resolution. I think that, 
for example, I bet not 5 percent of the American people know that we 
passed a budget which has record-breaking deficit reduction and a long-
term investment plan, and it passed at the most rapid point of any 
budget in 17 years. I bet not 1 in 20 American voters knows that because 
we did it, and success and the lack of discord is not as noteworthy as 
failures. So a multi-trillion-dollar budget resolution got--I'm not 
criticizing you; this is just part of the deal--got less play than a $16 
billion stimulus failure. So I think that people only can vote on and 
express what they know.

[[Page 787]]

    I think the other big problem is, I haven't been out there as much 
as I should have been engaging the American people directly since 
February. I've been here doing huge, heavy lifting and long meetings on 
health care and the economy. That's what I've been working on, and I've 
been forced to deal with a lot of other issues. I think when the 
American people see that the program that I promised them on February 
17th is still intact and on the boards and going forward, when they 
realize that we are going forward with health care and that that is, 
notwithstanding, what the perception is, taking the lion's share of my 
time and attention, and when I get back out there and engage them again 
on it, I think that those things will turn around.
    But you know, you can't operate this job by polls. Anybody who 
thinks they can be President by polls--I didn't run the Governor's 
office that way. The only thing that matters is the polls that come 
around on election day, those are the things that matter. And you have 
to be willing to take on tough decisions. It takes a certain amount of 
time to do things, to make difficult decisions and to work through them, 
and you can't carry on a totally continuous campaign. It's simply not 
possible.

Middle East Peace Talks

    Q. Mr. President, on the Middle East, you mentioned the Middle East 
talks. Do you think the U.S. should now offer proposals to bridge the 
gaps? Should the Syrians offer a full peace before Israel agrees to 
withdraw from the Golan Heights? And could you accept or see a 
Palestinian state eventually emerging from the talks?
    President Clinton. If I answer any of those questions I will 
undermine the Middle East peace talks. The real answer to that question 
is, if those parties can agree among themselves in good faith to 
proposals which will bring an end to the hostilities between Egypt and 
Syria--I mean, between Israel and Syria, between Israel and the 
Palestinians--they can get the multilateral talks going, if they bring 
in the Jordanians, the Lebanese, that the United States will be prepared 
to be supportive of their agreements. That is the answer to that. And I 
hope they can reach them.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President's 14th news conference began at 2:03 p.m. on the 
South Lawn at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Slobodon 
Milosevic, President of Serbia.