site.btaEC Says It "Never Claimed There Were Targeted Actions" in GPS Signal Disruption during von der Leyen’s Landing in Plovdiv

The European Commission (EC) has never claimed that the reported GPS signal disruption during the landing of EC President Ursula von der Leyen’s aircraft at Plovdiv Airport involved targeted actions, aid EC Deputy Chief Spokesperson Arianna Podesta at a press conference on Thursday. She added that the Commission had also never stated how long the plane was circling over Plovdiv before it landed.

"We are very well aware that unfortunately this incident is not specific to the [EC] President, meaning that it occurs on a very regular basis to many aircraft, in particular those flying near our eastern border. The situation is complicated. It is a fact that since the start of the war, Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, these episodes of disturbances of GNSS GPS signals have been increasing. This is why coordinated action from the European Union is needed. The Commission is supporting Member States in developing an EU-wide action plan with clear roles and responsibilities across sectors and levels, because we are very well aware that this issue occurs regularly not only with our aircraft, but also with our ships at times. Of course, this is a difficult situation to handle," Podesta said.

According to the spokesperson, it's for the Bulgarian authorities to decide how to take course of this action. "We don’t have these investigative powers, I believe," she said. 

Podesta did not confirm the reports of the Financial Times that the plane was "circling for an hour" over Plovdiv before landing, nor that the pilots used "paper navigation maps."