pd05jn00 United States-European Union Summit Statement on a New World Trade...

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our long friendship.

Note: The President spoke at 9:14 p.m. in the State Banquet Room at the 
Ajuda Palace. In his remarks, he referred to President Sampaio's wife, 
Maria Jose Ritta; and Prime Minister Antonio Guterres of Portugal.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 1249-1257]
 
Monday, June 5, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 22
Pages 1241-1269
 
Week Ending Friday, June 2, 2000
 
The President's News Conference With European Union Leaders in Lisbon

May 31, 2000

    Prime Minister Antonio Guterres. Ladies and gentlemen, good 
afternoon. A few words in English before making my statement in 
Portuguese.
    First of all, let me say that this was not a business-as-usual 
summit. It was a strategic summit: Strategic in the way we discussed the 
diplomatic and security problems of our hemisphere, the new common 
security and defense policy of the European Union, its

[[Page 1250]]

relationship with NATO, our relations with Russia and the Ukraine, our 
commitment to the protection of the values of all civilization in the 
Balkans; strategic in our approach, bringing confidence to multilateral 
way of dealing with trade issues, our commitment to relaunch this year 
the new round of World Trade Organization, and to solve in a case-by-
case situation our disputes based on the WTO rules; but especially 
strategic because we concentrated on the new global problems that 
represent today the main threats to our planet--infectious diseases like 
tuberculosis, malaria, or AIDS, the digital divide, the difficulties to 
make the new economy a truly inclusive economy; and strategic because we 
decided to work together, the United States and European Union, to 
promote a global effort to match this challenge and to win this 
challenge, aiming at the next G-8 organization summit and working 
together in all relevant international fora.
    Ladies and gentlemen, this has indeed been a meeting in which 
questions of global strategy have been a major element. Firstly, on this 
level of diplomacy and security, I think that we have fully understood 
the importance of our common European security and defense policy and 
the interrelations between this policy and the instruments within it and 
NATO and in perfect accord with the relations between these two 
organizations.
    We also discussed in a very consensual manner the efforts that the 
United States and the European Union are going to be making in their 
relations with Russia and the Ukraine, considering this an essential 
triangle for the stability of our continent.
    And we were able to reiterate our firm commitment to what we are 
doing in the western Balkans and our conviction that what we are 
concerned with here are essential values of civilization--in Bosnia and 
Kosovo, as to the possibility there of establishing a real multiethnic 
community in this territory, and a commitment to transform Yugoslavia 
into a truly democratic country, commitment to guaranteeing or to trying 
to guarantee stability in such complicated areas as Montenegro, and to 
offer support to all the countries in the region in their development to 
offer a long-term prospect which is truly European for the whole Balkan 
region.
    In our discussion, we attached great importance to the 
transformation of the new economy, the knowledge-based economy, not 
simply to be a privilege for the richest countries and for people and 
organizations with the greatest power in society but also, particularly 
in the United States and Europe, for all our citizens, for all our 
businesses, for all our organizations, and at the same time to establish 
a very strong interlinkage in our efforts with the objective of 
promoting a broadband link between our education information services on 
either side of the Atlantic.
    We want to develop our common efforts to combat separation between 
rich and poor countries in this area, since we believe that this new 
economy is a basic and fundamental opportunity for the poorer countries 
to be able to press forward, to leap forward, and come closer to the 
living conditions of the more developed world.
    But we can't talk about this without recognizing the drama which 
exists today in the world, given the series of infectious diseases 
leading to suffering and death for so many, such as AIDS, tuberculosis, 
and malaria. And we need to work together, seriously cooperating to 
promote global action to combat effectively these diseases and to 
develop in the next meeting of the G-8 an approach on this subject and 
to involve the whole international community and all international 
organizations, with the support of the European Union and the United 
States of America, in being catalysts in our efforts in this area. Given 
the global responsibilities we have, we must also meet these challenges 
of our times.
    We also discussed many other questions--foreign policy, for 
instance--and of course, one point that the Portuguese Government cannot 
fail to mention: We talked about the transition of East Timor to 
democracy and independence.
    President Clinton.
    President Clinton. Thank you very much. First, I would like to thank 
Prime Minister Guterres for his outstanding leadership in his tenure as 
EU President. I thank President Prodi, Commissioner Patten, High 
Representative Solana, for their strong leadership and the work they 
have done for transatlantic cooperation, and especially in Kosovo and in 
the Balkans in these last few months.

[[Page 1251]]

    I would like to just take one minute to put this meeting into some 
historical perspective. We've come quite a long way since Portugal's 
first EU Presidency 8 years ago. At that time, many were predicting that 
Europe's new democracies would falter, that Russia would turn inward and 
reactionary, that NATO had lost its reason for being, that Europe's 
project for a common currency and foreign policy would founder, and that 
the United States and Europe would go their own separate ways.
    Eight years later Europe's new democracies are joining the 
transatlantic mainstream. Russia, for all its problems, has completed 
the first democratic power transfer in its entire history. We have 
preserved and strengthened NATO. The EU has brought monetary union into 
being and made a fast start at a common foreign and security policy, a 
development the United States strongly supports. And far from moving 
apart, the United States and Europe today complete the 14th U.S.-EU 
Summit of my Presidency. So I thank all of those who have supported 
those developments.
    Today we talked a lot about security in Kosovo, the Balkans, 
southeastern Europe. We talked about the European Security Defense 
Initiative, which the United States strongly supports, in cooperation 
with NATO. And we talked about a number of other issues, including 
Russia, at some length. We discussed the need to support democracy and 
economic reform in Russia and the continued need for a political 
solution in Chechnya.
    I'd also like to thank the European Union for something else, which 
is on my mind today because of the work I've been doing in the Middle 
East. I welcome the efforts that the EU has led to give Israel an 
invitation to join the Western Europe and others group in the United 
Nations. This is a very good development, and I think it will contribute 
to the negotiating atmosphere that is so important at this difficult and 
pivotal time in the Middle East.
    Just two other issues briefly. We did talk, as Prime Minister 
Guterres said, a lot about the new economy, about how to maximize its 
spread within our countries and how to bridge the digital divide both 
within and beyond our borders, and we talked about the importance of 
dealing with other common challenges. I'll just mention two. I talked at 
some length about the climate change/global warming challenge, and we 
have made a joint commitment to do more to try to help developing 
nations deal with AIDS, malaria, and TB. And I am very grateful for the 
leadership and the energy of the EU in that regard.
    So, in closing, I think it's been a good meeting. I think it 
demonstrated the vitality and importance of our partnership. I'd like to 
thank the business leaders who are here, who also have been meeting, and 
the environmental leaders and just say the from my point of view, all 
these exchanges have been very much worth the effort and are leading us 
into a better future.
    Thank you.
    Prime Minister Guterres. Senor Prodi.
    President Romano Prodi. Well, I am most pleased to be here today 
with Antonio to discuss with our common friend, the President of the 
United States, the relationship between the European Union and the 
United States.
    But before anything, I want to pay tribute to the support of 
President Clinton to the European Union. You always supported European 
Union, without any doubt. And this is the reason why our transatlantic 
ties are so good now and so strong. And I think that--you will go to 
Aachen to receive the Charlemagne Prize--I think you deserve it because 
this is the prize that is given to the Europeans.
    Your predecessor, President Kennedy, was a Berliner. You now, you 
are not a Berliner, but a European, I'd say, because I think that you 
belong to our family, really. The United States helped Europe, even at 
the most difficult point, even when Europe was becoming more and more 
powerful, like making up a euro in the last building of our new Europe.
    Now we are 375 million people; we shall arrive to 500 million people 
with enlargement. And we discussed enlargement this morning, and we 
discussed how enlargement can be performed quickly, well, in a peaceful 
way, not harming anybody, and being accepted also by Russia. This almost 
was a photo op of the meeting that I had with the Russian President 
Putin just the day before yesterday,

[[Page 1252]]

discussing how enlargement would be done and the aim, the goals of 
enlargement.
    Concerning the point you didn't touch in our relation, we discussed 
frankly about trade. And of course, conflicts between the two biggest 
trade powers in the world are always possible. We are the largest trade 
in the world, and we represent more than 40 percent of world trade.
    We are committed, and we decided to be committed today to a more 
territorial trade system, and all trade disputes will be settled case by 
case under WTO rules. This was clear. There was a clear commitment. And 
we decided also that megaphone diplomacy will be replaced by telephone 
diplomacy. It is more constructive, even less sexy. [Laughter]
    I am pleased that we have already two results of this cooperation. 
After 3 years of discussion, we are finally able to come today with a 
solution to settle our difference on that of protection, which is a very 
delicate issue. And then we developed jointly the safe harbor concept. 
And so we shall have, together, high data protection standards and free 
information flows.
    This deal has been approved today by our member states and so will 
not be reviewed by the European Parliament. It's done. WTO accession of 
China will take place very soon, I hope--we hope. We are working for 
that, and we are, the two teams, the American, U.S. team and the 
European Union teams, are really working together for that.
    And we launch today the biotechnology consultative forum to foster 
public debate and create more common understanding. I remember that this 
forum, which I proposed in October last year at my first meeting with 
you, Bill, is made of outstanding and independent individuals from 
outside the government. It's a very independent body. And I do expect 
that this forum will meet in July.
    And so we agreed also to go together to the G-8 with a strong agenda 
on the tragic problem of sickness in the world. We shall elaborate this 
strategy for tuberculosis, malaria, and AIDS fighting over all the 
world. This is the agreement that we have today in a very good 
friendship environment.
    And also, I want to add as the last reflection that--you talked 
about the Balkans--we know that together with the action, with the 
Stability Pact, with the progress that you are doing day by day, we must 
find a long-term solution in the idea of European Union spirit, in the 
European Union environment in order to give a long-lasting solution to 
the Balkan problems.
    Thank you.

U.S. Missile Defense System

    Q. Prime Minister Guterres and President Prodi, in a few months 
President Clinton will make a decision about a national missile defense 
system for the United States. For an American audience, can you explain 
any European concerns about deploying such a system, and whether, in 
your just-completed trip to Moscow, President Putin expressed any 
flexibility about amending the ABM to allow such a system?
    And President Clinton, in the system that you envision, would that 
allow for the missile protection system to protect Europe and our NATO 
Allies, as Governor Bush has suggested?
    Thank you.
    Prime Minister Guterres. Well, President Clinton was kind enough to 
inform us about what he thinks about the matter. I think he'll express 
that better than myself. I'd like to say that this is a matter in which 
the European Union has not an official position, but we have--I'll say 
all of us--a main concern. We live in the Northern Hemisphere where from 
bearing to bearing we want to have a strong security situation. We 
believe we have built a lot on the process to create that. And we 
believe that every new move to strengthen these must be as comprehensive 
as possible, as agreed by everybody as possible, and as corresponding as 
possible to everyone's concerns and to everyone's preoccupations in this 
matter.
    President Prodi. Well, I have to add also that President Clinton--
there was no yet precise proposal done. But we discussed it on the 
general principle that there was no decoupling, that there is no 
division between the two sides of the Atlantic. We are still, and we are 
more and more joined together in our defense purpose, not only in our 
economic purposes. And so the spirit in which

[[Page 1253]]

we judge the program--we didn't go into the details--was a constructive 
and friendly talk.
    Q. And the Russian President?
    President Prodi. No, the Russian President didn't touch the problem 
2 days ago. The program was not on the agenda, and we didn't make any 
head to that.
    President Clinton. First, let me just very briefly reiterate the 
criteria that I have set out for making a decision. First of all, is 
there a threat which is new and different? The answer to that, it seems 
to me, is plainly, yes. There is, and there will be one. That is the 
danger that states that are not part of the international arms control 
and nonproliferation regime would acquire nuclear weapons and the 
missiles to deliver them and that they might make them available to 
rogue elements, not part of nation states but allied with them. 
Secondly, is the technology available to meet the threat? Thirdly, what 
does it cost? Fourthly, what is the impact of deploying a different 
system on our overall security interests, included but not limited to 
arms control? So that is the context in which this decision must be made 
and why I have worked so hard to try to preserve the international 
framework of arms agreements.
    Now, I have always said that I thought that if the United States had 
such technology, and if the purpose of the technology is to provide 
protection against irresponsible new nuclear powers and their possible 
alliances with terrorists and other groups, then every country that is 
part of a responsible international arms control and nonproliferation 
regime should have the benefit of this protection. That's always been my 
position.
    So I think that we've done a lot of information sharing already with 
the Russians. We have offered to do more, and we would continue to. I 
don't think that we could ever advance the notion that we have this 
technology designed to protect us against a new threat, a threat which 
was also a threat to other civilized nations who might or might not be 
nuclear powers, but were completely in harness with us on a 
nonproliferation regime, and not make it available to them. I think it 
would be unethical not to do so. That's always been my position, and I 
think that is the position of everyone in this administration.

NATO Enlargement

    Q. Mr. President, for Portuguese Public Television, my name is 
Carlos Pena. In the middle of this month, in Lithuania, nine countries 
met, and they expressed their will to be part of NATO, and they want to 
work together. Did you address the question of further NATO enlargement 
and how you all see this kind of new ``big bang''?
    President Clinton. Well, the short answer to your question is, we 
didn't talk about further NATO enlargement. But we have worked hard to 
try to make NATO relevant to the 21st century. We've taken in new 

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