[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 23 (Monday, June 14, 1999)]
[Pages 1060-1062]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to Discussions With President Goncz 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

[[Page 1061]]

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.

Russian Troops and NATO

    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/Hungarian Role

    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 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.

Serbian Delays in Implementation of Agreement

    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

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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.

Mrs. Clinton's Possible Senate Bid

    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.