Q: Steve, is the President planning any gestures to the Europeans on global warming? Of course, this is an issue that has been raised again with the Kyoto Treaty taking force this week.
MR. HADLEY: I think the agenda that the President and the European leaders discuss will be a fairly broad one. Some of the subjects, obviously, we've talked about here: the freedom agenda, what that means for Iraq; Afghanistan; Middle East peace; obviously, the war on terror. But it's a broad agenda we have with the Europeans, so I think there will be some discussion about trade, about international economics, about what we can do to pursue successful development in places like Africa and elsewhere. And I think there'll be discussion of environmental issues, including pollution and climate change. And I think the effort will be to find areas of common ground.
The truth is there's a lot we are already doing with Europe in terms of research in connection with climate change, in terms of developing technologies that will dramatically reduce pollution and therefore make a contribution to a positive direction on climate change. So I think there is an opportunity to develop a common agenda not only between the United States and Europe, but also, of course, to begin reaching out to some key developing countries which will need to be part of this issue.
Q: Many Europeans were reminded this week of their view that America has gone its own way. It's an outcast on this issue. Does he not plan to take advantage of this forum to do something to try and overcome that view?
MR. HADLEY: Well, I think actually there are a number of things that we are doing with the Europeans, in terms of research and technology in the way I described, and also beginning to do with developing countries. Developing countries face an enormous dilemma: How can they have prosperity and progress without sacrificing their environment? And this is something where the United States and Europe can together help so that the developing world doesn't have to make that hard choice -- that can advance the cause of prosperity and at the same time respect their environment.
So there is actually a lot already going on between the United States and Europe. I think you'll see coming out of this an expansion of that agenda. So rather than going our own way, I think what we have done in some sense is showing the way of how we can cooperate with Europe and developing countries to really move on this agenda in an effective way. And that's what I think we'll try to do.
Q: Mr. Hadley, Iran -- the question of negotiations between Europe and the Iranian government on suspending or eliminating their nuclear weapons development program. How will that topic come up in Europe? And what can the -- what can the President do to get the United States involved with that diplomatic effort?
MR. HADLEY: Well, there's a lot of commonality between the United States and Europe on Iran, a lot of consensus about what Iran needs to do. It needs to give up the pursuit of nuclear weapons. Everybody is agreed on that. It needs to stop its sponsorship of terror, particularly with respect to the Palestinian areas and Hezbollah, because the activities of those groups is very much in the way of the positive development, we hope, between the Israeli and the Palestinians.
There is the treatment of their own people, which both we and the Europeans have talked about and that Condi talked about in her press availability with Chancellor Schröder. So it will come up in one sense because there's a commonality on the agenda -- concern about Iran and a commonality about what Iran needs to do.
We've actually been very much involved on the nuclear issue. You may remember, this was managed for a long period of time in the IAEA Board of Governors -- 35 members; we, of course, are part of that, and we've been in active participation on that. It is true that the Europeans, the EU 3, have taken the lead in the recent conversations with Iran that resulted in the current agreement. We've been supportive of that effort -- the President has been supportive of that effort, and we would continue to do so. The real question, of course, is where we go on that arrangement, that it is -- basically temporarily freezes their enrichment activities, and what we need is a permanent cessation of their enrichment programs and any reprocessing activity.
That's what the Europeans are trying to seek. And I think the question is whether the Iranians are willing to go forward. And I think that's really the next thing that we need to see, is something from the Iranians about a willingness to go forward in the path that the EU 3 have described.
Q: Can I follow up on that? Would it be at the NATO Summit that the President would raise those concerns and issues? Where would that come up?
MR. HADLEY: Well, I expect it will come up in a variety of discussions. You know, in some sense it's -- in many respects, it's the same group of players at NATO and at the EU, so I think it will come up probably in different ways in both of those forums. My guess is it's probably more likely to come up on the EU side.
Q: I just wanted to follow up on the President's statements on Israel, in relation to Iran, of course. What exactly constitutes a threat to Israel, since there has been this verbal threat by the Ayatollah? And at what point does the United States come to Israel's defense?
MR. HADLEY: Well, I think the reality is that virtually all the countries in the region would view an Iran with nuclear weapons as a destabilizing factor in the region. And that's, of course, where we don't want to go, because that's a very difficult problem for all of us to manage. And that's, of course, why we've been engaged with the IAEA Board of Governors; that's why we have been supportive of the EU 3 effort, so that we don't have to face that eventuality.
Q: So the President said today he was hopeful that by the time he gets to Europe he'll be able to talk somewhat about the culpability that Syria may or may not have had in Monday's bombing. I'm wondering if you can tell us that there's been a conclusion that, at a minimum, the Syrians knew, had some advance notice of this, or anything you can share with us about the progress of that investigation.
