Armitage, Solana remarks at press availability in Brussels

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said June 2 in Brussels that a United Nations Security Council resolution and related documents on Iraq "will lay out the relationship" between the Iraqi ministries of defense and interior and the commander of a multinational force in that country.

"The multinational force mandate will be addressed following general language. There will be a provision in the resolution for a mandatory review after 12 months or sooner if the interim Iraqi government were to ask for it," Armitage said during a joint press availability with European Union (EU) High Representative Javier Solana.

Solana said he hopes U.N. resolution will be constructive, positive, and will "allow what is the aim and the objective of all of us -- to have a devolution of sovereignty to the people of Iraq so that it can find its stability and prosperity."

The discussions between Armitage and Solana also included the U.S.-EU summit in Dublin at the end of June and the Middle East peace process.

Solana said the U.S.-EU summit would cover a range of issues including cooperation on the broader Middle East and North Africa, terrorism, and economic matters.

Following is a transcript of the press availability, provided by the U.S. Mission to the EU:

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U.S. Mission to the EU

PRESS AVAILABILITY WITH DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE RICHARD ARMITAGE AND EU HIGH REPRESENTATIVE JAVIER SOLANA AFTER THEIR MEETING

Justus Lipsius Building
Brussels, Belgium

June 2, 2004

HIGH REPRESENTATIVE JAVIER SOLANA: Good morning. Let me start by saying that for me it's a great pleasure to receive a good friend, the Deputy Secretary of State of the United States, with whom I have had the privilege to meet in several occasions, in Washington, in some other places. Today here in Brussels for the first time. So I want to welcome him in this house. I hope it will not be the last time he visits.

Now let me go to the substance of the talks. As you can imagine, we have talked about the important items of the international agenda of today. And of course we have spoken about the situation in Iraq, the last events, the formation of the transitional government, the work which is taking place at this time -- not at this time but later on probably -- in the Security Council in New York. We are pleased to see that a government has been established. We want to welcome the good job that has been done by Mr. Brahimi in cooperation with other persons. We want to say also that we hope that the Security Council will come out with a resolution that would be constructive, would be positive, it would allow what is the aim and the objective of all of us -- to have a devolution of sovereignty to the people of Iraq so that it can find its stability and prosperity.

We have also spoken about the situation in the Middle East peace process. As you know, we had a very good Quartet meeting not long ago in New York in which we talked about the situation. In particular, I would like to underline the situation of the withdrawal from Gaza. As you know, the plans of Prime Minister Sharon are not finished. Still he has to go through some difficulties, potential difficulties, in the government and Knesset, but we expect very much that the withdrawal from Gaza will be a reality and it will be done in the terms that we agreed in the Quartet -- there will be a total withdrawal, that in the end will mean the withdrawal, total withdrawal of the forces from Gaza and the end of occupation in Gaza. If that is the case, the members of the Quartet, in particular the United States and the European Union, together with countries of the region -- Egypt, Jordan and others -- will be really engaged in order to have that withdrawal, to help to make that withdrawal a success. That will be a very important event in order to get, to create, any momentum on the peace process.

Let me say that we have spoken also about the summit that as you know is going to take place at the end of this month, in a very intense month in which we are going to be together in several occasions. But I would like now to mention the summit that is going to take place, I think it is the 26th of the month of June, in Ireland, in which the European Union and the United States will meet at the highest level. We hope very much there will be a very constructive summit. We have a lot of topics to discuss and to agree. We are working already to make that meeting a great success. On topics, on issues that we have mentioned already before, on the cooperation in the Middle East, the cooperation also on the broader Middle East and North Africa, cooperation also on terrorism, cooperation on economic matters. So we think that we have a good agenda to have the summit at the end of the month a good success.

The president of the United States, as you know, will be coming in the coming days. He will be in Europe. He will have the opportunity of meeting with the leaders of the European Union, and I hope also that those meetings will be positive and constructive for the objectives and ambitions that we share now.

(Solana, who is walking on crutches, turning to Armitage) Real pleasure to see you. (To the press) I promise you that he didn't do anything to my knee. (Laughter) You see this size and you know what is going to happen. No, I did it myself, alone. It's a great pleasure to have you here. He's a good friend and he will continue to be a good friend.

DEPUTY SECRETARY RICHARD ARMITAGE: Dr. Solana, thank you so much for your hospitality and your many kindnesses both today and throughout the years.

You've accurately portrayed our discussions; I don't need to retrace that ground. We can stand by for questions. But you left out one key element of our discussions and that was the excitement and pleasure that I was able to express on behalf of the United States for the recent accession of 10 new members to the Union. There's a lot of excitement, a lot of energy that you feel here and as an American friend, it's very, very gratifying. So thank you, sir, and I guess we will stand by for questions.

QUESTION: I have a question for Mr. Solana. How do you feel now about the new interim government in Iraq? There is a lot of accusation in the Arab streets about American pressure to put a secret CIA agent on the top of it. Thank you.

SOLANA: What I can tell you is that the procedure that it was established to put forward, to put in place the new government, is the procedure that has been followed. [UN envoy] Mr. Brahimi had the responsibility to start working on it. Of course he knew very well what were the terms of reference of his job. He had to talk and discuss also with the members of the Governing Council, with the leaders of Iraq. I think that if I were to follow what has come out from New York, what has come out from the Secretary General, from Mr. Brahimi, I think that the procedure has been an appropriate one. And I hope very much that that government will not only be respected but helped by the people of Iraq. The responsibilities the government has are very, very serious, very difficult, some of them, and I hope very much...it will require the help of everybody who does want to have the transition of sovereignty that will start at the end of the month of June and that will lead, according to the calendar that has been accepted by everybody, lead to elections in the year 2005. This is what we would like to be taking place. I have no other information than that. If you tell me that on the streets of the Arab world has been taken with less enthusiasm, I think that as soon as these people begin to work and the people in Iraq begin to see that to have a new government is a positive thing, to have really the sovereignty, probably, the state, the spirit of the people will change.

Q: Leon Bruneau, Agence France Presse, question for Mr. Armitage. What does the United States envision at the UN as a compromise on the question of the mandate of foreign troops, mostly American troops, after the transfer of power on June 30?

ARMITAGE: Thank you. We've had three ambassadorial-level consultations in New York and three expert-level consultations. Secretary Powell has spoken to all of his colleagues, to include his new colleague, Mr. Barnier [French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier] from France. We believe that we are able, first of all, in the resolution, to accommodate the requests and the views of most of the 15 members of the Security Council. The relationship between the Iraqis and the MNF [Multinational Force] will be embodied in the resolution and in a pair of letters which will be exchanged, one from the Iraqi prime minister-designate and the other from a U.S. official to the Security Council, that will lay out the relationship between the Iraqi ministry of Defense, the ministry of Interior and the MNF commander.

Q: Just to follow-up on that question. Is there any possibility that the rights of Iraq's army to refuse an offensive operation will be spelled out in the final resolution and would there be a more definite date for the expiration of the multinational force's mandate?

ARMITAGE: The multinational force mandate will be addressed following general language. There will be a provision in the resolution for a mandatory review after 12 months or sooner if the interim Iraqi government were to ask for it. So I think that will be handled. Regarding whether Iraqis could refuse to participate in an operation or not, of course if they are a sovereign government they would have to be able to refuse. But these are the kind of things that are worked out on the ground between the MNF commander and the sovereign government.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)