Administration of William J. Clinton, 1999 / June 22 1167

of our Declaration of Independence, was Please join me in a toast to the President, looking for examples of democracy around to the Prime Minister, and the people of this the world, places where the people ruled. wonderful country. The President gave you a—what I would call a delicate version of the example pro- NOTE: The President spoke at 9:40 p.m. in the Dining Hall at Brdo Castle. In his remarks, he vided by the Corinthians to Thomas Jeffer- referred to Stefka Kucan, wife of President Kucan; son. You see, Thomas Jefferson loved the fact and Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek of Slovenia. that before assuming their titles, the old A tape was not available for verification of the dukes of Corinthia were ceremoniously content of these remarks. slapped by a local present to symbolize the right of the people to rebuff their leaders. Thomas Jefferson liked that. So did all future Remarks Following Discussions generations of Americans. [Laughter] Except With President Kiro Gligorov of they wait until after you’re in office to do Macedonia in Skopje it. [Laughter] June 22, 1999 Well, democracy is going strong again in Slovenia, and still your efforts inspire Ameri- Thank you very much, Mr. President, Mr. cans. We are grateful for the many contribu- Prime Minister, leaders of the Macedonian tions of Slovenians to the strength and tex- Government and political life, parties in Par- ture of our country, and we are grateful for liament who were freely elected last Novem- the partnership that unites us today. ber. I thank the President for his statement and This spring, as both the President and the would like to reply by saying that I came here Prime Minister have said, that partnership for two reasons. First, I want to thank the met a great test. For the fourth time in this leaders and the people of Macedonia for decade, Mr. Milosevic and Serbia launched helping a just cause to prevail in Kosovo, for a brutal campaign of violence, threatening giving shelter and hope to the Kosovar refu- the progress the people of this region have gees, and for welcoming our NATO troops worked so hard to achieve. As you know from who came here to help those refugees. the daily television reports, the full horror NATO could not have achieved its mission of that campaign is only now becoming clear. without you; the people of Kosovo would not I would like to thank the President and be going home to security and autonomy the Prime Minister for all that you have done without you. I came here, as much as any- to protect democracy and the tolerance it thing else, to say thank you. needs to thrive. Now that ethnic cleansing Second, I came here because I believe the has been defeated in Kosovo, we must build United States, our NATO Allies and, indeed, something better in its place throughout Eu- all nations of the world who support the re- rope, and especially in southeastern Europe. versal of ethnic cleansing and respect for You know, every leader likes to talk of the human rights and minority rights have a re- future, but today in your Congress Square sponsibility to help Macedonia to overcome I saw the future in the faces of the young the economic hardships that the recent crisis people who braved the rains to express their has imposed and to return to a path to pros- support for our shared dreams. I saw those perity and even stronger democracy and free- who will lead a free Slovenia into the new dom. millennium. Already, our total aid to Macedonia has Your history is enshrined in this magnifi- more than tripled over last year to $72 mil- cent castle we enjoy this evening, but your lion; and today we will provide another $12 future is in those young people. And it is in million in food commodities. In the months good hands. ahead, we will do more. But we are also com- So I ask you now to rededicate yourselves mitted to the restoration of economic oppor- to the dreams which brought the people out tunity and jobs in Macedonia. Today I am in the rain today. We owe it to them, to our delighted that an executive of the American forebears, and to generations yet unborn. company Liz Claiborne came with the First

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