10:00 a.m. here on c-span. >> tonight, the first addresses to congress from presidents ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, bill clinton, george w. bush, and barack obama. that is tonight at 8:00 eastern time here on c-span. announcer: watch c-span as president donald trump at delivers his first address to a joint session of congress. : this congress is going to be the busiest congress with had an decades. announcer: live on c-span and c-span.org on february 28 at p.m. >> vice president pence was in brussels for meetings. he met with donald tusk for a

news conference. topics included the cease-fire between russia and ukraine. this is 15 minutes. pres. tusk: mr. vice president, dear friends, let me first of all thank you for this meeting. we all truly needed it. much has happened in the last month in your country. many surprising opinions have been voiced about our relations and about our common security. for us to pretend that everything is the way it used to

be. thank you for being so open and frank with me, mr. vice president. today i had words which are promising of the future. words that explain a lot about the -- about the approach of the new administration in washington. i repaid our guest by offering honesty in my assessment of the situation. i shared our concerns. incurable i am an pro-american european who is dogmatically devoted to transatlantic cooperation, i could afford to be outspoken even more. i asked the vice president directly if he shared my opinions of three key matters. international order. and the attitude of the new american administration towards the european union.

firstly, i expressed my belief that maintaining order based on the rules of international law .ere the root life in the interests of the west. this orderintaining can only be enforced through a common, mutually supportive and decisive policy of the whole of the western community. for millions of people around the predictability and stability of our approach of, ats the guarantee the very least, help that chaos, violence, and arrogance will not triumph in the global dimension. referring to some statements made in munich just two days

clearlyould like to say that the report of the death of the west has been greatly exaggerated. whoever wants to demolish that post westcipating in itsust know that defense we will remain determined to. a secondly, our security based on nato and the closest possible transatlantic corporation. we must work together to normalize the forms of this cooperation. some of them should indeed the improved but we should agree on one thing -- the idea of nato is not -- just like the value that they at its foundation -- they

are not obsolete. let us discuss everything. starting with commitment. not only to strengthen our solidarity, in order to weaken it. sadly, we are counting as always on the past. on the united states' whole hearted and unequivocal support of the idea of a united europe. the world would be a decidedly were notce if europe united. americans know best what great value it is to be united and that becoming divided is the prelude to a fall. it is in the interest of us all to prevent the disintegration of the west. as for our continent, in

this respect, we will not invent anything better than the european union. matters, i these heard today from vice president pence, three times, yes. after such a positive discussion, both europeans and americans must simply practice what they preach. on saturday, in munich, you during your trip across europe in 1977, with your older brother, you found yourself at some point in west berlin. marveling at what you saw. and then crossing through checkpoint charlie only to see the shadow of repression hanging over people. have -- i had

been living under the shadow for over 30 years. what i vividly remember from my own past is how after martial in was imposed in poland december 1981, president ronald reagan urged all americans to light a solidarity candle on christmas eve as he did himself. it is not difficult to imagine how this moving message of american solidarity to the repressed polish nation against the forces of tyranny. hopeow that helped bring and the encouragement not to give in. in your speech, you also highlighted the historical of some american and european leaders. .ncluding havel

i was lucky to cooperate closely with them in difficult times. us, they all believed in the purpose of cooperation and solidarity between europe and the u.s. we cannot let their efforts go to waste. after today's talks, it will be easier for me to believe that we will fulfill this task. thank you. vice pres. pence: thank you, tusk.ent thank you for your warm hospitality today. and thank you for those eloquent words and your personal courier to and leadership. it is an honor to meet you. and on behalf of the president of the united states, to bring greetings. and i may make a note never to follow you at the podium again.

[laughter] thank you eggen for your eloquence. last night, i was honored to have dinner with the prime minister of belgium. i met with the representatives of the european union. and this morning, a very constructive and productive conversation with president tusk and it is an honor to be here. this afternoon, i will meet with president yunker of the european commission and before taking meetings at nato and returning to washington, d.c. tusk saidas president i was pleased to address the security council in munich to theess the security -- strategic alliance of the united states -- that we entered. the president did ask me to come here to brussels and to the home of the european union, and

deliver an additional message. and so today it is my privilege on behalf of president trump to express the strong commitment of to united states to continue cooperate and partner with the european union. whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and the same purpose. to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. and to those objectives we will remain committed. and this has been the european union's goal since before its formal founding in 1993. westbegan as a modest european trade agreement has grown into a commitment to the four freedoms, freedom of movement, goods, capital, services and people, with a common currency and a common approach. what began 60 years ago with the treaty of rome among six west european nations has grown to youmpass many nations and

welcomed new states after the end of the cold war. with this union, and in cooperation with the united states, history will attest that when the united states and europe are peaceful and prosperous, we do advanced if he's and prosperity of all of the world. our economies are the world's largest accounting for half of the world's economic output. transatlantic commerce supports 14 million jobs on both continents and improves the lives and well-being of all of our citizens. today, we reaffirm our commitment to a free, fair, and flourishing economy that undergirds our success and a cooperation in achieving that. maintaining and strength earning our economic vitality will require hard but necessary choices. renewed growth means improved to peace and prosperity fraud. bemust be strong and we must united as well in our efforts to confront threats to europe's security and stability.

heartbreaking to reflect that now nearly a year ago, here in brussels, in the heart of the european union, three horrific suicide bombings and attacks took place killing 33 innocent victims including four americans and injuring hundreds more. community,to this the european community, your losses at the hands of barbaric terrorists are felt equally in every household and every heart in america. and you have our condolences and our determination to continue to do all that we can in partnership with the european union, with all of our allies in europe to ensure that such attacks never happen again. we seek to take measures and we call upon the european community to join with the united states in continuing to intensify our efforts to counter the threat of

radical islamic terrorism here on the content. this will require greater coordination and intelligence sharing among eu member states and between the eu and the north atlantic treaty of -- treaty organization and let me assure you that the united states is committed to continuing and expanding our collaboration on the collective security of all of our peoples. yourafety and security of union and our people depends on that increased collaboration in the global fight against terrorists and the united states will remain a full partner with the eu and all of our european allies to accomplish that. in addition to confronting terrorism together, clearly, we must stand strong in defense of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations in europe. in the wake of russian everest to redraw international borders by force, we will continue to support efforts in poland and the baltic states through nato's enhanced forward presence

initiative and with regard to ukraine from the united states will continue to hold russia accountable and demand that russia honor the minsk agreements beginning by the escalating the violence in eastern ukraine. sides, to abide by the cease-fire that was scheduled to begin today and in the interest of peace and in the interest of innocent lives, we hope and pray this cease-fire takes hold. the united states will continue to hold russia accountable, at president trump's direction, we will also search in new ways for new common ground with russia. which president trump's believes can be found. commitment totes the european union is steadfast and enduring. president tusk, president trump and i look forward to working together with you and the european union to deepen our political and economic partnership. we are separated i and ocean but we are joint by a common

freedom, democracy, and the rule of law and we are confident that bond will indoor and grow in the years -- will endure and grow in the years ahead. thank you again for your hospitality, mr. president, and thank you all. and announcer: vice president pence also affirmed the u.s. commitment to transatlantic relations.

sec. gen stoltenberg: good afternoon. vice president pence, welcome to nato headquarters. it is a great honor and a pleasure to have you here. and once after you took office. and a few days after your great speech in munich where you so clearly declared the strong commitment and the unwavering support of the united states to the transatlantic bond. and we welcome that. because we see the strong commitment of the united states to the transatlantic want, not only in words but also in deeds. these days the united states is deploying new forces, additional forces to europe which is of great importance to the security of europe and which demonstrates this strong transatlantic commitment of the united states.