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Obama at the G20 Summit; Hollande Addresses Joint Session of French Parliament; Aired 10-11a ET

Aired November 16, 2015 - 10:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:00:00]

(CNN DOMESTIC COVERAGE)

[10:14:23]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNNI: You've just been listening to U.S. President Barack Obama at the G20 Summit in Turkey.

Right now, French President Francois Hollande is addressing a joint session of parliament at Versailles. They just held a minute of silence. Let's

now listen in.

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): Parliamentarians, France is at war. The acts committed in Paris on Friday

evening, these are acts of war. They caused at least 129 deaths and many injured. And they constitute an aggression, an attack against our country,

against its values, against its young people and against its way of life.

They were done by a daish group who are fighting because France is a country of freedom, because we are the motherland of human rights. And

during this period of exceptional gravity, I felt I should address the parliament, both houses of the parliament, in a congress, to show our

national unity in the face of such an abomination and to reply with the cool determination which is necessary to a vile attack which was levied

against our country.

Our democracy triumphs over more fearsome enemies than these cowardly assassins. Our republic is not going to be overcome by despicable killers.

But we will put all the strength of the state to defend the safety of its people.

And I can count upon the devotion of the policemen of this army of you, yourselves, representatives of the country.

You know what duty is. And when circumstances require, you know how to make sacrifices.

The terrorists believe that free peoples will be overcome by horror. That's not the case. And the French republic has overcome worse trials and

it's still there, alive. And those who made these attacks always came out the losers and this will occur again.

The French people is an ardent, valiant, courageous people. It does not resign itself and it stands up whenever one of its children falls.

They wanted to strike innocence. They are cowards who fired on disarmed or unarmed people.

And we are not committed to a war of civilizations because these assassins don't represent any civilization. We are in a war against terrorism,

jihadism, which threatens the whole world -- and not only France.

In this war, which began some years ago now, we are all aware that we need time and that patience is necessary, as well as the toughness with which we

will fight. They used the vilest means to kill. But they are not beyond being seized. They are not out of reach.

And in this difficult period, this burdensome period for our citizens, those who felled here should keep their cool.

And I appeal once again to all our compatriots, to show those virtues which are the honor of our country, perseverance, lucidity, dignity, unity.

And today, our country is in mourning. We think about the innocent people who were cut down in Paris and we think of their families who are

inconsolable. We think about the hundreds of young people, young men and women, who were traumatized or wounded and killed by this terrible attack.

And at the moment I'm speaking to you, no doubt some of them are still fighting for life and I greet the action of the caring police forces who

have mobilized themselves, the health system which prepared itself for an emergency situation like this. And it faced up to its duty and fulfilled

its mission.

I also want to pay tribute to the police forces, the force order, who are guaranteeing the safety of French people, as we saw the courage shown by

those policemen who, when they assaulted the building, to release the hostages in the Bataclan, who would have died otherwise. They, again,

showed determination beyond the call of duty.

So the whole of France was the target of this terrorism, France, which likes life, culture, sport, parties, France without distinction of color,

of religion, nationality. The assassins wanted to kill young people in all its diversity. The youngest was not even 30, called Valeria Solesin, and

there were many others.

What was their sole crime?

That they were alive.

What the terrorists aimed at is that France, which is open to the world, a number of dozens of foreigners were among the victims.

And since the Friday evening, I received messages of solidarity from heads of government and states from all over the globe. And the Tricolore has

been shown in those famous locations, showing that France is a luminary for mankind.

The acts of war of Friday were decided upon and planned in Syria. They were organized in Belgium and carried out on our soil with French

complicity, seeking a clear objective, to sow fear, to divide us and to put pressure on us to prevent us from acting against terrorism in the Middle

East.

We are facing an organization, daish, which has a territorial area, finance resources and military capacity. Since the beginning of the year, that

organization struck in Paris, in Denmark, in Tunisia, in Lebanon, in Kuwait, in Saudi Arabia, in Turkey, in Libya.

Massacre, which oppresses people -- and that is why the need to destroy daish is something which concerns the whole international community.

So I asked the Council of Security to meet as soon as possible to adopt a resolution expressing this common wish, to combat these people.

And in the meantime, France will intensify its operations. And yesterday I gave the order to 10 -- for 10 French fighter bombers to throw reef bombs

on daish in Raqqa. They destroyed a command center and a training center. And I congratulate the French pilots. They were successful in that

mission.

I also thank our American allies, who gave their assistance for this operation. And I announce that here we will continue with these strikes

during coming weeks. And Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier will go to the Mediterranean on Thursday and that will triple the capacity we have and our

capabilities. And in this action, we will not hesitate or vacillate.

And the Paris attacks, those who did these things, should know that, far from undermining the resolve of France, strengthens our determination to

destroy them.

Terrorism is being fought everywhere, where states are threatened in their existence. And that is why I decided to intervene in Mali. And now the

presence of us, our presence there, where Boko Haram murder, rape and kill, and in Iraq also, we want to enable the authorities of the country to

restore their sovereignty throughout the whole of the territory of the country.

And in Syria, we seek untiringly to find a political solution, of which Bashar al-Assad cannot be part.

But our enemy in Syria is daish. And so it's not a question of containing it. It is a question of destroying it to save the populations of Syria,

Iraq -- and I could add Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, all the neighboring countries.

And it's to protect ourselves, to avoid that has occurred on Friday, to prevent foreign fighters coming here to carry out terrorist acts. But we

need to do more.

Syria has become the largest factory of terrorism that the world has known and the international community. And I have seen more than once that it is

divided and incoherent. France has asked from the beginning of the conflict that there be unity to act if necessary.

Today, we need more strikes, more support for those who are fighting daish. We will provide that. But the needs are coming together of all those who

can really combat this terrorist army in the shape of a large, unique coalition. That is what we are working for.

In the coming days, I will meet President Obama and President Putin in order to unite our forces and to achieve a result which, thus far, is

rather in the future.

France speaks to all, to Iran, to Turkey, to the Gulf countries. And the Paris attacks took place at the moment when, in Vienna, we were meeting.

There was a meeting with those countries to try to find a political solution in Syria. And as of now, we all need to shoulder our

responsibilities, the neighboring countries of the powers but also Europe.

I asked the ministers of defense to, as of tomorrow, to inform our European colleagues in the constitutional (ph) article 402 of the union -- 407 --

which says that if a state is attacked, all member countries should provide solidarity because the enemy is not only an enemy of France. It's an enemy

of Europe. And Europe cannot live with the idea that the crises around it cannot be tackled.

The question, for example, of the refugees is directly connected to the war in Syria and Iraq. The inhabitants of those countries, those in particular

in those territories controlled by daish, are martyrized (sic) and they are fleeing. They are the victims of these same terrorist system.

So that is why it is vital that Europe accept with dignity those who have a right to remain here and should send back those who can't. But this is not

the case today. Effective protection of our outside borders, France is working on that.

And we were the first to send our warning to France and Germany today, acting so that the countries which face the wave of refugees first could be

helped and, in particular, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon.

And if Europe doesn't control its outside borders -- and we see today it is a return to national borders, barbed wire here and there. That is the

future. So it would be dismantling of the European Union.

It is also imperative that the request which France made some time ago be implemented in Europe. I'm talking about controlling the arms trade,

controls on the border and the approval before the end of 2015 of what we call the PNR, to ensure the traceability of jihadists.

These are our demands. These are the demands that France will submit yet again through the ministry of the interior at the meeting which will be

held at our request next week.

Given these acts of war committed on our soil and which come after the attacks on the 7th, 8th and 9th of January and so many other crimes

committed in recent years on behalf of this same jihadist ideology, we should be merciless.

We know, and it is cruel to say it, it but it was French people who killed other French people on Friday; on our soil, there are people living in

crime. They move from crime to radicalization and then to terrorist crime.

Sometimes they go to fight in Syria or Iraq. Sometimes they form networks which train, given the circumstances. And then, when the time comes, the

moment chosen by their sponsors, they carry out terrorist acts.

We have frustrated a number of these acts in the past months, for some months, I say. This organization has made these preparations. So we need

to defend ourselves urgently. It's a question of defending our citizens and our ability to live together.

On the Friday evening when the shooters had the terrible effects, I convened the Council of Ministers. I ordered the reestablishment of border

controls at once. And I proclaimed a state of emergency at the proposal of the prime minister.

Hence now, it is effective throughout the whole of France and I expanded the possibility of having administrative searches in all of the

metropolitan departments. And last night, there were over 104 people who were put under house arrest and 128 searches. And there will be more to

come.

However, with the acts of war, the enemy has taken -- moved into a new phase. And we can react in declaration of human rights and citizens'

affirms in Article II that security and the resistance to oppression are fundamental rights.

So we must exercise these rights in accordance with these principles. We will provide the means to guarantee yet again the safety of our citizens.

And I have decided that the parliament will, on Wednesday, be informed of a draft law prolonging the state of emergency for three months, adapting its

content to the evolutions and changes in threats and technologies.

And the law which governs the state of emergency of 3 April 1955 cannot really match the kind of technologies and threats we face today. But it

involves two exceptional measures: house arrest and administrative searches. These two measures offer useful means to prevent terrorist acts.

And so I will order them to be implemented fully and the prime minister will propose to parliament that we adopt a complete legal system with each

of these provisions.

And you, parliamentarians, I invite you to vote for them before the end of the week.

But we have to go beyond the emergency and I have thought a lot about this question. I think really that we must develop our constitution to allow

the public authorities to act in accordance with law against militant terrorism.

And today there are two regimes which are not really adapted to the situation we are in. The first regime is Article XVI of the constitution.

And it says that the regular functioning of public bodies be suspended and then the president will determine orders, depending upon the circumstances,

and distribute the constitutional powers accordingly.

And then as Article XXXVI of the constitution, which talks about the state of siege, when it's not appropriate, it is -- it means imminent peril

resulting from a foreign war or an insurrection -- and an armed insurrection at that -- and the competence is then passed from the civil to

the military authorities.

You can see that neither of these systems is adapted to the situation we find ourselves in. The regular functioning of the public authorities is

not interrupted. It's not conceivable to transfer to the military authorities these powers I outlined.

However, we are at war. But this war is a different kind, facing a new kind of adversary. A constitutional regime is needed to cope with this

kind of situation.

So what was proposed in 2007 and the committee under the chairmanship, Mr. Baladil (ph), looked at the constitution and suggested to change Article

XXXVI of our basic text, where it refers to state of siege and a state of emergency. And the proposal was to suggest lay down the conditions when

these powers will be used.

And I consider that that approach should be reintroduced. It is a question of being able to have an appropriate tool to take exceptional measures for

a certain time without recourse to the state of emergency and without compromising public freedoms.

This review or revision of the constitution would be accomplished by other measures. It is a question of nationality and the expiry of nationality

should not have the results of making someone stateless.

But we need to be able to deprive of French nationality an individual condemned for a terrorist act or other acts against the nation of the

country even if he was born a French person and even if he has another nationality.

And we need to prohibit these people to return to our country if they present a terrorist risk, unless they submit themselves, as our British

friends do, to a control order.

We should be able to expel more rapidly foreigners who represent a threat of particular seriousness to the safety of the country. But we should do

it in accordance with the law and international commitments.

And I know that other proposals have been made, the surveillance of certain individuals. The government, in a spirit of national unity, is going to

consult the council of state to look at whether these proposals are in accordance with our international commitments and our laws. That ruling

will be made public and I will draw the consequences.

Let us think carefully. Our constitution is a collective pact, agreement. It unites all our citizens. It is the common rule. It covers principles;

it has a preamble which shows that France is stateful by law; the constitution is the charter. It is a contract which unites all the

citizens of the country. And the constitution is a collective pact, indispensable for living together. And it's legitimate that the

constitution should involve responses to react against those who want to undermine it. And we are diverted to dissolving groups and societies which

provoke hatred and carry out terrorism.

Ladies and gentlemen, parliamentarians, I ask you to think about the decision which I have taken.

And I would ask the prime minister to prepare this review with you so that it can be adopted as soon as possible because we or you will extend the

period of emergency for three months. But after that we need to be in a -- to rule by law to combat terrorism.

And since the threat is going to continue, the fight against daish will mobilize us for a long time abroad and at home.

And also I decided to strengthen substantially the means we have in the justice and the security forces.

Firstly, the magistrate antiterrorist groups should be able to have recourse to all the range of new intelligence technologies. And this is

authorized, administratively, by the new law on information.

And the penal procedure should also take account of the specificity of the terrorist threat.

And the magistrates should have more access to sophisticated means to combat weapons dealers, in particular, because it is with weapons that

these terrorists' acts are committed. And the punishments will be increased.

And given the violence of terrorism, the question of legitimate defense of policemen and the conditions under which they can use their weapons should

be examined, always within the framework of the rule of law.

These different subjects constitute the matter of an important amount of legislation, which I would ask the prime minister to be committed to

without delay, together with the minister of the internal affairs, so that we can waste no time before we take this action.

These provisions will complete all the measures which were adopted since 2012, that's to say the anti-terrorism law, the law on information,

strengthening of the means and the wherewithal.

But I am also aware that we need to increase our means further; if we are at war, we cannot just use what we had a few years ago, military laws and

other texts, which were aimed at preserving the security of the country.

Five thousand additional jobs for policemen and gendarmes will be created so as to bring the total to 10,000 in security over five years. This

effort is considerable and it assumes that the government will do it in the budgetary context you are aware of. But it will make it possible to

restore the potential of the internal security forces to the levels it was at in 2007.

And this creation of posts will benefit the anti-terrorist groups, the border police and the general security in the country. It will be

accompanied by the necessary investment and equipment.

Likewise, the ministry of justice will have 2,500 additional posts for prison administration, for judiciary service.

And I'm not forgetting the administration of the customs, which will need to be strengthened by 1,000 persons, so we can assure border control, if

that becomes necessary.

As for our army, they are more and more in demand for operations abroad, which we will continue for the security of our compatriots. So there, too,

I have decided that there will be no reduction in numbers until 2019 in the military.

And its reorganization of the army will benefit operational units, defense and instruction and teaching and training. And the government will,

without delay, submit a new plan for defense up to 2019.

I also want to make better use of reserves insufficiently exploited here. But we do have that facility. This is a link between the nation and the

army. The reserve is an element which, tomorrow, may form a national guard, which is trained and available.

All these budgetary decisions will be taken within the framework of the financial law, which is, at the moment, under discussion for 2016. And

they will necessarily be translated. And I say, before you, they will be translated into extra expenditure.

But under these circumstances, I think that the security pact is as important as security itself.

So ladies and gentlemen, the faces of the dead, the wounded, the families, don't leave me in peace. These memories strengthen a resolution, which I

know you share, in my determination to combat terrorism.

I want France to remain itself. Barbarians attacking it want to defigure (sic) it. They will not succeed. They will not be able to disfigure it or

change its face. They will not damage the soul of France.

And we will continue to live as we always have, to live freely and fully and we must demonstrate that coolly.

And I'm thinking of young people. I think of those who are wounded and who wonder about whether they can still live in a constitutional state. We

should continue to work, to go out, to live, to influence the world.

And that is why the climate conference will be not only maintained but it will be a moment of hope and solidarity, because it is a question of the

future of the planet and of solidarity, too, because, no doubt, there will be over 100 heads of state and government, who will come here to negotiate

a lasting, binding agreement, one which is differentiated so that we can all live and so that our children and grandchildren can continue to have

the planet they inherited.

And they will also come to France, a country of liberty. They will say how much the whole world is solidarity, how the whole world also needs to

mobilize to combat terrorism.

In the same way, our democracy is not subject to blackmail. Regional elections will take place as planned and political life will come back into

full operation. That is our right.

Mr. Chairman of the congress, chairman of the senate, ladies and gentlemen, parliamentarians, those who represent the nation, all of you, you represent

it in all its diversity and all its feelings and in its unity.

You represent a free people, an invincible people, when it is united and comes together. It is our most precious value. And we want to avoid

slippage and wastage. That is our duty.

We cannot renounce this combat and just give up because of certain circumstances. We must be careful that that sort of thing does not occur

today.

The republic needs to receive all the strength it needs under this new state of war, to eradicate within respect of our values, to annihilate

terrorism, losing nothing from the rule of law.

And we will eradicate terrorism because the French want to continue to live together without fearing anything from their neighbors. We will eradicate

terrorism because we are attached to freedom and the influence of France in the world.

We will eradicate terrorism so that the movement of people and the enrichment of cultures, one for another, can continue. We will eradicate

terrorism so that France can continue to show the path. Terrorism will not destroy France because France will destroy it. Long live France and the

French republic.

(APPLAUSE)

[10:53:20]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: You've just been watching pictures there of the French parliament. The president Francois Hollande addressing a very

historic address. This is a very rare occasion. It's the first time ever that he's addressed both the national assembly and the Senate. The third

time this has happened since 1848.

He again reiterated that France is in a state of war. Now we have our correspondents standing by to analyze everything, what was just said. CNN

international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson firstly joins me from Paris.

Nic, the president spoke there of extending powers, especially extending this state of emergency that the country is currently under.

What did you make of those comments?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, he certainly saved his strongest line for the last. France will not be defeated by

terrorism because France will defeat the terrorists. That really was a very, very powerful and emotive line to end on.

But that was the culmination of everything that he laid out, an extension of the state of emergency for three months. And then in the process of,

during that period, there would be a review and changes in the constitution because he said the current constitution would not adequately deal with the

current threat that the country faces.

But he also stressed that this -- that the constitution is what unites the people of the country. It's a common charter for everyone in the country,

so that must be taken in that context, that they mustn't essentially alienate people by this charter but this charter will give stronger powers

to the security forces that --

[10:55:00]

ROBERTSON: -- deal with terrorists and suspected terrorists. He also talked about the defense of the country; he said the strikes we have seen

already were only the beginning, that they would continue, that he was moving the aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, into the Mediterranean.

Once it arrives, that will increase -- once it arrives on Thursday, that will increase France's airstrike capacity in Syria. It will increase it

threefold.

He talked about sending his defense minister out to the countries of Europe to use an article in the European Charter that says that if one country of

the union is attacked in such a way, then the other countries will stand behind it.

He said that it's the responsibility not just of the countries surrounding Syria to defeat the problem of ISIS but it's the countries as well in

Europe, so it does appear as if he will try to build a greater consensus, a greater degree to support France's increased actions in Syria to defeat

ISIS.

He said they would continue to target them there. So a very broad structure layout there, also as well, talking about some more significant

changes, financial changes potentially for the country that will include budgetary changes because he said, unlike previous plans where the military

was due to be reviewed and scaled down by 2019, he said the army will not undergo any reduction to 2019, that the reserve forces will be made

available more in a sort of more offensive capacity, that there will be an increase in the number of prison guards, that there will be a increase in

the number of custom officials, an increase in a number of other security officials.

And all of this designed to make France's own borders more secure, to make the people here more secure. And also he talked about something we have

heard over the past many months about trying to secure the outer borders of Europe.

So wide ranging but all about improving the security. And as he said, France will not be defeated by the terrorists because they, France, will

defeat the terrorists, the words of French president Francois Hollande -- Lynda.

KINKADE: A very significant announcement there. Nic Robertson, thank you very much.

Now I want to bring in senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward. She joins me now. She's also in Paris.

Clarissa, the president also said we should not be merciless. He said it was French people who killed French people. There's already obviously a

lot of fear where you are.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely; the fear here is very real. I think French people are torn because, on the one hand, they want to get

on with their lives, move on with daily life.

But at the same time, there's a sense that the attacker, the eighth attacker, is still at large. One thing that President Hollande said that I

think was very important. He said this attack was planned in Syria, organized in Belgium, with complicity from inside France.

This gives you a sense of why it is so difficult for security officials and intelligence officials to get a lock on these networks. This is happening

in multiple different countries.

Now I just wanted to bring you up to speed with the latest on the investigation here in France and, of course, next door in Belgium. The

interior ministry has announced that there were 150 raids overnight. In those raids, 23 people were arrested, more than 100 people placed on house

arrest. Weapons were confiscated, including heavy weapons like a rocket launcher.

It's not clear yet whether or not these specific raids were directly connected to Friday's attacks but, certainly, the focus right now is on

finding that eighth attacker -- Lynda.

And the other significant thing that Francois Hollande said was that Syria has become the largest factory of terrorism in the world. You spent a lot

of time there.

What did you make of that comment?

WARD: There's no doubt about it. It's an extraordinary situation, what is happening in Syria. We know that roughly 900 French citizens have traveled

to Syria, to join the jihad.

What do you think happens once they're there?

Once they become desensitized to the brutality and killing all around them, once they become indoctrinated by ISIS, which runs camps that are

specifically designed when people arrive there, to inculcate them with this toxic ideology.

As long as you have groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, able to freely operate and to draw in all these different fighters from the West, you

know, you have disaffected youth all over the world but now in Syria and Iraq, you have hubs where they can go to learn dangerous tactics, learn

about using weapons and learn about building explosives.

KINKADE: OK, Clarissa Ward in Paris, thanks very much for your analysis.

Now you've just -- as you have been hearing, the French president, Francois Hollande, will extend the state of emergency by three months right across

France. You have been watching CNN's breaking news coverage of the deadly terror attacks in Paris. I'm Lynda Kinkade, live at the CNN Center.

We'll return you now to CNN USA.

END