Havel, Clinton Meet, Discuss Europe’s Future

Czech President Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who was a leader in the “Velvet Revolution” that returned democracy to his country, took up Europe’s complicated future Wednesday with President Clinton.

He dismissed moves in Russia to return to some state controls as not alarming. “I don’t see anything very dangerous in it,” he said.

Havel, 61, apparently is on the mend after months of serious medical problems. He underwent surgery for a ruptured colon in April and in August came down with pneumonia and an irregular heartbeat.

He has been hospitalized five times since 1996, when he lost part of a lung to cancer.

At a joint news conference, Clinton said they had discussed “the urgent need to bring stability to Kosovo to prevent suffering” in the Yugoslav province, where Serb forces are trying to crush an ethnic Albanian insurgency, as well as tensions between the government and its opponents in Albania.

Their aim, Clinton said, was a “true partnership for security” and preparations for the Czech Republic’s entry into the NATO military alliance.

Havel, who lost his job and was jailed for campaigning to rid Czechoslovakia of Soviet controls, said converting Europe into a peaceful continent was complicated. But he said he was not concerned that Russia was imposing some Soviet-style controls over the Russian market.

“It’s a complicated situation,” Havel said. “And it will still be in 50 and in 100 years. We understand these complications . . . I don’t see anything very dangerous in it.”

The two presidents traded compliments on their commitment to democracy at an evening state dinner where Havel presented Clinton with the Order of the White Lion, the highest decoration of the Czech Republic.

Clinton said the medal, on a rich red sash, was “too grand for me to wear, but I will be very glad that we could do something, through NATO, to help ensure that that freedom never, ever be lost again.”

The leaders and their dinner guests were entertained, at Havel’s special request, by former Velvet Underground rocker Lou Reed.

Havel called Reed “one of the fathers of the American underground” and said the “new type of American self-realization” that he helped create affected the Czech people as well.

Havel and Reed, personal friends, have known each other since 1990, when Reed interviewed Havel for Rolling Stone magazine. They met again in July, when Reed was in Prague for a film festival, and Reed played host to the playwright-president when he traveled to New York.