MR. SNOW: We're going to do just a quick sort of a joint briefing here. We've got Steve Hadley and Julie Ansley here to talk about the President's visits today with the President and Prime Minister of Hungary, and entertain any other questions of consequence that you may have. Steve, why don't you come up, and you can give a summary of the morning's meeting. MR. HADLEY: I'll run through the day, and then talk a little bit about what was discussed. The President began this morning with an embassy greeting, meeting with the men and women who support U.S. government activities here.

He then met with the President of Hungary, went to the Parliament Building, where he met with the Prime Minister. After a meeting with the Prime Minister, of course, there was a brief meeting with the press. He then met with the Speaker of the Parliament, and then had an opportunity to greet various leaders of the political parties here in Hungary. And then there was a social lunch where the two leaders and the President -- President and Prime Minister and President Bush made some brief comments.

The two longest substantive meetings were, of course, the meeting with the President and the Prime Minister. At both of those meetings, the subject of democracy and freedom came up, of course. This being the 50th anniversary of the 1956 uprising, freedom and democracy are very much on everybody's mind. The President paid tribute to the spirit of the Hungarian people that despite the events of 1956 stood strong and ultimately resulted in the freedom that Hungary achieved in 1989.

They talked about Hungary could not only be an example to the world about the power of freedom, but also, in some sense, Hungary can share the lessons it has learned from its own transition to freedom and democracy with other countries not only in the region, but around the world. All three leaders talked about the responsibility of those who know freedom to support others in their quest for freedom. There are a lot of ways in which that support can manifest itself, but they all agreed that it is the responsibility of those who are free to help those who would be free.

There was a discussion of issues of the day. President noted and thanked the Hungarian officials for Hungary's understanding that freedom is also on the march in Afghanistan and Iraq and the willingness of Hungary to participate. They have been participating most recently through the NATO mission in training in Iraq; they are present in Afghanistan, they are considering a PRT, heading one of the provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan. And the President expressed appreciation for their support in freedom's cause more generally.

There was a discussion about the Balkans, the important period of moving towards the question of final status for Kosovo, the importance that any final status arrangement provide protections for minorities, and particularly the Serbian minority in Kosovo, and that also it provide a prospect for the Serbian people to move towards greater affiliations with Europe and European institutions, so that it sees that as its vocation and ultimate destination, in terms of close association with the institutions of Europe.

There was a lot of discussion about energy, about the need for diversification of sources of energy, about the need to invest in alternative technologies, the kinds of things we've been talking about in the past -- clean coal technology, ethanol, hydrogen propulsion for cars and the like. A lot of interest in the Hungarian government and cooperation on those items.

There was some discussion about Russia. President Putin had recently come to Hungary, made some helpful comments about the history of this period, and particularly the history in 1956, and a discussion about how we could reassure Russia that promoting democracy and freedom not only within Russia, but among Russia's neighbors is not some kind of effort to encircle Russia, but is, in fact, a good thing for Russia, because democratic states make good and peaceful neighbors.

I think that's the gist of the conversations, really, with both the President and the Prime Minister. There was also some discussion about Iran, the desire that we all have to find a resolution of the nuclear issue through negotiation and diplomacy, the need for solidarity, and the remarkable degree of solidarity there is between the United States, Europe, Russia in these conversations, and of course, the next step there is for the Iranian government to respond to the proposal that they received here around the first of the month.

And, Tony, I think that's really what transpired by way of substance over the course of the day.

seen at 01:19, 22 June in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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