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Good afternoon and welcome to our midday briefing.

Before we start taking your questions, we have a few announcements for you today.

Let me start with the update to the President's agenda for the week.

On Wednesday, she will chair the meeting of the College of Commissioners, and on Friday,

President von der Leyen will receive the members of the Committee of Permanent

Representatives of the Member States to the European Union for a working lunch.

OK, before we go any further and taking your questions,

let me welcome a group of young Swiss journalists who are here today with us in the press room.

We do hope that you will find your visit to Brussels interesting and certainly the time you spend at the European institutions.

We're delighted to have you with us today in the press room.

Welcome to the announcements today, we can now move to take your questions. Yes, go ahead.

Hello Arianna, could you tell us what happened with the airplane

that carried the president on Sunday during her trip to Bulgaria?

We understand there was a possible GPS incident that you believed could have been conducted by Russia. Could you tell us more? Thank you. Thanks, Jorge.

We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming,

but the plane landed safely in, in Bulgaria.

We have received, information from the Bulgarian authorities that they

suspect that this was due to blatant interference by, Russia.

We are, of course, aware and used to somehow to the threats and intimidations that are regular,

that are regular component of Russia's hostile behavior.

Of course this will only,

reinforce even further our unshakable commitment to ramp up defense capabilities and support for Ukraine.

This incident actually underlines the urgency of the mission that the

president is carrying out in the frontline member states these days.

There she has seen firsthand the everyday challenges of threats coming from Russia and its proxies,

and of course the EU will continue to invest in

defense spending and in Europe's readiness even more after this incident. Questions on this incident. Yes, go ahead. I think it's Maria. Thank you very much.

Just a quick follow up, I understand that, I mean,

the Bulgarian authorities think it was a Russian attempt.

Was it concretely, do you think, to the president's plane?

Was it to the airport were other planes affected?

And just a clarification, I understand it was, I mean, the commission not having planes.

It was a, a charter, a commercial flight.

There were other more passengers in the plane. Thank you.

Thanks, it was a charter flight on whether this was intended

to target the plane on which the president was traveling or not.

I think the question is best asked for sure to the Russians if indeed it is them who have carried it out.

As the Bulgarian authorities suspect and to the Bulgarian authorities who are looking into the matter,

what we can say is that the Bulgarian authorities suspect this blatant interference was carried out by Russia,

and this is the information we have received from them. Yes, go ahead.

Thank you, just for, for the details because I didn't understood, was she, was the president and the president's plane was it

rooted somehow because of the interference where was she traveling to

and has her roots being somewhat somewhat deflected by the interference. Thank you.

Thanks, I don't recall the exact name of the location to which she was traveling, but you can find it in, in our daily news,

of, of, Friday, I believe, in which we have published a detailed,

agenda of, of her missions with the precise locations.

As you might know, the president is visiting 7 frontline member states these days.

She has started on Friday and is concluding the visits today.

One of the stops was Bulgaria where she was going to visit the the front,

and, and there, there was this episode of interference.

The plane in any case landed safely in the original location where it was foreseen to arrive,

so there was no change of route because of this. Yes.

Angela Skujins from TVP World, can you tell us if there have been other suspected jamming attempts spearheaded by the

Russian authorities as well as what other actions will be taken in the future to prevent attempts such as this? Thank you.

I'm not sure I understand the question on other attempts in relation to the president or more generally in relation to the president.

I'm not aware of other incidents during this trip.

On jamming practices, Anna Kaiser perhaps can provide more information. Thank you very much. Where are you? In which corner of the world? Thank you very much.

So generally we have been seeing quite a lot of such jamming and spoofing activities,

notably in the eastern flank of Europe.

Europe is the most concerned region in or most affected region globally.

On this, and there was a letter sent by 13 member states to the Commission in June this year,

and they drew our attention additionally to this issue,

which is something that is becoming almost daily daily practice.

It has serious impacts on maritime and aviation.

And obviously with the economic impact as well.

So we are taking action on this.

We are already working on a aviation specific plan in cooperation with EASA.

Eurocontrol with our Member States obviously as well,

and air navigation service providers and the manufacturing industry.

So in these kinds of cases and what is happening, the collaboration,

the exchange of information and the cooperation of the Member States is of course paramount.

And then of course Thomas will be will be able to tell you more about our Gallego that that can be highly, highly useful for this as well when we when we monitor and when we develop our strategies to prevent this,

but it is it is something that is very much on our radar there was there was increased amount of such events which

also sparked the member states to to Ask us to take

this up in the council formation to have a discussion about this.

And now that I had time to check, it was Plovdiv International Airport in the south of Bulgaria.

Apologies for not remembering the name on the spot. Go ahead with your question.

Thank you Antonov for Japanese TV and HK.

Just this might seem obvious, but just in case, did the Bulgarian authorities already told you why they are concretely

suspecting Russia of being involved in this specific disturbance and

have they already provided you with some concrete hints or proofs? Thank you. Thanks. No, this is a question. Best advice to the Bulgarian authorities.

All I could do is refer their suspicion on this incident.

Of course it is for them to investigate.

It was in their territory that it occurred.

It concerned, I understand,

the entire airport at the location.

Therefore, perhaps also affecting other planes as I wouldn't know.

It is for the Bulgarian authorities to confirm and it is for them to investigate what happened. Go ahead.

I quickly add to your question of what we are doing.

One thing that we are doing to address the situation is also sanctioning several companies

who have led activities related to GPS signal disruption which has affected our Member states.

So we have actually listed a couple of such companies under the sanctions regime.

So, this is, this is something that we are also very concretely, I mean very concrete step that we have taken,

in the very obvious blatant case of, of these originating, originating from Russia.

Florent Caelen from Le Figaro, could you specify the type of plane in question and how many passengers were on it, please?

I would not have this information at hand.

The information is always published online, I believe with a few weeks delay, Balás can provide 2 weeks, every 2 months, apologies, every 2 months,

the information on missions and on the means of traveling is published online,

so it will become available, but I wouldn't have it at hand right now. Yes, go ahead, go.

Carolina for, Leo, yeah, so the, the problem has been, known for for years now,

and, European authorities have been working on, alternative solutions.

Can you please elaborate on these solutions?

What are we trying to do like develop, alternatives to.

GPS or the satellite navigation systems,

and can you please explain what happens when a plane loses its GPS signal?

I, I assume they have other satellite systems they can rely on.

I I do have to admit that my expertise in operating an airplane is rusty as I'm just back from holidays, but it will be back to speed tomorrow and I will be able to tell you how to switch from autopilot to not autopilot and what it means when you are operating

a plane in the cockpit on what we are looking in terms of strategy to To address this, obviously the first step is to make sure that all actors who have any kind of involvement,

any kind of expertise, knowledge, and also we have to look into the competencies,

the airspace, all these things.

It's very much a mix of economic actors, political actors, safety, security, etc.

So we are now rather looking into.

The Member States' initiative to come up with an action plan, but whether we are looking at alternatives to current GPS systems or current technologies that exist,

this is something that we will have to see once we agree

on an action plan on the wider approach how to address this.

In the situation we are currently at this stage and we obviously will keep you informed as the work advances,

but it is very much something that this is also coming from our Member States.

It's a request from Member States, especially for those who are most impacted on the eastern flank.

It concerns all of them from Finland to Cyprus.

Go ahead and then turn to the side of the press. I'm from Lexpress.

I'd like to pick up on what you said a while back

about Gallego and Thomas telling us a little bit more about that.

So what difference does that make the GPS and Gallego method that we have at our disposal to to have an overall Imagery

of overall I mean we we can use it to to have a snapshot of what is happening,

how the airspace is used, etc.

It's basically an imaging service as we know, but I mean it is it is something that we want to use as an additional tool when we are looking at this because

obviously it is an issue that has to be looked looked at very very globally given

that this touches very many sectors as I as I mentioned, not just aviation also maritime. Thanks Anna Kaiser, we continue. Thank you for your active.

Will the Commission seek redress through ICAO?

Will it seek a whole of EU suit against Russia at ICAO currently it's only the frontline countries

affected by Baltic jamming that are seeking redress against Russia,

like let's say stripping it of civil aviation frequencies.

Will the Commission join this effort and spearhead further sanctions through that?

What I can, you mentioned IA they are they are also developing a global plan on this,

and we clearly are contributing to to that one as well,

which is basically the strategy that we that I mentioned that we are developing.

It will be our contribution to ICAO's global plan because obviously this is not just an EU issue.

To what we are going to be doing on the sanctions, I would I would leave that commenting to colleagues,

but we have already sanctioned some of these these companies and

individuals that have been that have been that have been behind.

These actions and from the Commission point of view, that is one side sanctions are always more for Member States to agree on, but from our side,

where our competencies are, is now to work together with our Member States and

with the actors that I mentioned to ensure that we do have an action plan.

And then see what what what is possible, what, what is possible within the framework that we work in to look look

for alternatives and look for more effective means to address this

situation that clearly is something that is ongoing as we speak. Quick follow up, yes.

So the commission response is to work towards an action plan to tackle this. This is one of the ways.

The other way is that we have sanctioned specific companies, specific individuals behind these kind of jamming and spoofing,

and then we have to also address the situation according to our competencies,

and one of them is that we Take input from our Member States.

We work with Eurocontrol, with EASA, as well as the air navigation service providers, and we come up with a plan and then obviously the plan can include more concrete actions,

something that has more teeth to really concretely address this, but for the moment this is what we are doing.

Thanks, I'll take a couple of questions from remote and then we'll change topics since it's already 20 minutes,

we are discussing this matter. Valerie. If you want the floor.

It's not a follow up question,

so I'll wait until we move on. OK, that's fine. Andreas next please. Sorry.

It's, it's also not a follow-up question to the GPS incident.

It's about the FT interview the president has given yesterday. OK.

Then, considering that there are so many hands raised on other topics, I would close this chapter if you have more questions for me and Naraya,

you're very welcome to reach out bilaterally later and now,

I will, revert to Elois.

Hi, sorry, not Louise, Valerie, to whom I had given the floor first. Good afternoon, everybody.

I have a question about the agreement with Mercosur. Could you confirm something?

That this agreement will be on the menu of the college meeting on Wednesday and also on the

menu on the agenda with the work and the

meetings with the perm reps of the member states.

And can you confirm that the agreement might

not have been signed but almost signed with Mercosur.

What are the criteria that will be used for the safeguard clauses?

Will there be automatic safeguards or will they have to be activated according to the markets? And what about the mirror clauses?

Now it could be a very quick answer, Valerie.

Unfortunately, as we've said many times before,

we intend to come up with or we.

Said we'd get the proposal on the table at the end of the summer, which is the end of September.

Now we cannot confirm the agenda of the college until we've had the heads of cabinet meeting,

the so-called Hebdo meeting, and that meeting will take place just this afternoon.

And we can confirm the agenda of the college only tomorrow.

I can't do it here and now, alas.

As for what we will propose, obviously we'll have to wait and see

what we have in the proposal once it's been adopted by the college.

So we have nothing we can share with you at the moment. Anyone else? Any other questions regarding trade? OK, let's start here.

Questions and trade, and then I will revert online. It's on Mercosur.

Are you going to tell us, what the decision is regarding the Meeting,

could you say something before we get to the midday press briefing tomorrow?

And what kind of communication are you thinking in terms of?

Regarding the Mercosur proposal, will it be published?

Will it just be the readout of Wednesday's meeting, if indeed it's on the agenda of Wednesday's college meeting? Thank you very much.

Now we're going to announce the agenda at the midday tomorrow.

If we can do it earlier then we will, but normally we do it during the midday, so it would be tomorrow. Lunchtime-ish.

I can't tell you yet what is on the college agenda yet,

so we can't tell you what they'll be by way of press events that day.

Now you do know that when we have important items on the agenda of the college.

Then we always try to come up with a press meeting with the

relevant commissioner to discuss any measures that have been proposed and potentially adopted. That's always what we do.

Alas, for the moment, I can't be any more specific because I just cannot confirm the agenda of the college for Wednesday,

that can only happen following the Hebdo meeting of Heads of cabinet this afternoon. OK, go ahead.

It's a quick question on the same topic, Chris, can you by any chance clarify if Merkel is on the agenda for the Hebdo meeting today?

No, we don't comment on the agendas of the Hebdo, but nice try. Other questions on trade. Go ahead, yes.

This is on the car, Rebecca from Carbon Pulse, on the carbon border adjustment mechanism.

I think it was last week or the week before you,

the EU said it would grant additional flexibilities to the US, on CBAM.

So it would be great to know what those are, or at least what the timeline is when you will announce those,

and also there was South Africa requested the same flexibility, so.

What is the commission going to do if all the countries are asking for the same flexibilities? Thank you.

I think colleagues will have to revert to you on on this one in general with the US

there was a general commitment to cut red tape, facilitate,

and this is the intention of the upcoming work.

I don't think we can be more specific about it at this stage, but Anna Kaiser will check and revert bilaterally later.

I take a couple of questions from remote, I presume they are on trade, Naomi.

Hi, it's actually on a different topic, sorry. Then let me try with Fabio.

Yes, hi, it's, Fabio Campoli for, Public Policy News Agency.

It's on trade in, in fact, on, Mercosur.

Maybe I was wondering maybe you can tell us

the agenda of the meeting with the ambassadors on Friday.

Is the Mercosur or is the Mercosur deal part of the agenda of this specific meeting? Thank you. I'm afraid not.

It's a working lunch with representatives of the member states, of course, the president has a very significant amount of topics to discuss with these

representatives that hold such an important role in contacts with with the commission,

but I wouldn't have a specific agenda to announce at this stage. Other questions on trade? Not the case. OK, other questions, go ahead, yes.

Euroscope Georgia, as today is already the first of September, maybe you can give us,

maybe do you have some updates regarding visa liberalization,

maybe there is some response from Tbilisi or maybe something other. Thank you so much. Thank you for the question.

Yes, I can confirm that the Georgian authorities have replied

yesterday to the letter sent on 14 July by the Commission.

We will now assess the replies sent by Georgia.

The Commission expects the Georgian authorities to take concrete steps to address the issues raised in all Commission recommendations.

You have a follow up, go ahead.

Is it possible to tell us what's inside of this letter?

Like they implemented some of these issues or not,

or can you tell us more details?

I cannot, as you know, this kind of correspondence we don't publish.

Other questions for Marcus on this matter or other matters he follows.

I see a number of hands raised from remote. I'll give it a try. Akram, is it from Marcus?

No, it's not, can you hear me? It's not for Marcos.

It's about the EU ports in Bosnia.

It's OK because Marcos is actually Guillaume today, so it's actually for Marcos. OK, great, good for me.

The former president of Serb entity in Bosnia Herzegovina Friday told Sputnik that he will

ask from Russian government to block the extension of the EU PTP forces built for Al-Faya.

A which took place at the UN Security Council at late October as the mission is. A mandated until the 2nd November.

So my question is, Is the commission or the EU in general considering this topic

and what will be the way out if that happens at the UN Security Council?

When I say the way out, is there any legal alternative or arrangement that that you can find directly with the Bosnia Herze Herzegovina as it has,

for example, with the LLDex mission in Kosovo, directly with Kosovo authorities. Thanks Ari. This is actually for Anita. I know it's confusing. I'm looking at her.

I am not sure she has much to say at this stage. She will double check.

In any case, I would imagine we cannot really speculate on possible future actions of this sort,

but Anita will check and revert.

I do not see other hands raised for Marcos, so I'll go to Andreas,

to whom I had given the floor earlier and then forgot to give the floor back.

No worries, it can be confusing sometimes.

But we cannot see you, Andreas, so you would have to turn on your camera, please. It should be. Not working. So let's do like this.

I'll take Naomi, to whom I had done exactly the same thing, and we will revert to you,

hoping you can sort out your camera issues in the meantime, Naomi.

Hello, thank you very much for taking my question. John O'Leary, Irish Times.

So my question is about the stalled proposal to partially suspend Israel from accessing Horizon funding.

Obviously going nowhere for now, given there's not sufficient support on the 27th.

My question is about potential action that the Commission could take by itself.

I investigated some funding that had gone towards various Israeli entities,

and it seems that plenty of money has gone towards things that have military applications which are supposed to be excluded under Horizon.

I give us an example of the drone project Extend, which has just been contracted by the

Israeli Ministry of Defense to supply thousands of

drones and was funded by the EU in 2020.

In cases like that, should that money be repaid if the rules have been broken,

that would be my first question.

And my second question would be about the risk of moral hazard. So the European investment.

So the way that their horizon funding works is they take equity stakes in Israeli companies,

some of which are now providing services to the Israeli army.

I was wondering if holding those equity stakes and actually having that financial investment with money coming in from the war in Gaza,

does that carry moral hazard and would there be a case

for For selling those equity stakes or getting rid of them. Thank you.

Not sure we have answers to all, but let's start with Thomas and see where we gets potentially not to all indeed.

Let's maybe first start with the decision that I mean,

or the proposal we have adopted very recently on the possibility to partially suspend Israel from its.

Participation into the EIC accelerator on the Horizon Europe. That's a commission proposal indeed.

This is now on the table of the council and it has to be adopted indeed by qualified majority.

So this is more work on the council's side.

Now on the other part of Europe.

Despite Europe here, in Europe is,

Program and fill in application. This is this. And he has to that one.

Now, we keep monitoring it and again this is,

but in case fun are being of course as the as

part of the monitoring to So I start from scratch again.

Is it on already Can I try? Is it OK now? Online It's OK.

These are not So should be fine.

It's OK, OK, so, let me start with the first point of the question again.

So the first point of the reply being the decision that we adopted very recently,

to partially suspend Israel from its participation to a rise in Europe, namely to the EIC accelerator.

That decision has been adopted by the commission.

It's on the table of the council. It has to be adopted by.

Majority voting, so this is more a question that you have to address at this stage to the council

now on potential other measures and decisions that the Commission could or could not take,

this is a bit speculative. I will not enter into that.

Let me maybe recall two important points. Israel is associated to Horizon Europe.

There is no change there, and Horizon Europe,

it's our research program that is funding civilian projects.

Now of course we have several mechanisms in place to make sure that this civilian aspect is of course met.

We keep monitoring development and again extremely speculative at this stage, but the Commission in its monitoring work has the possibility to terminate a contract,

to suspend a contract, and to get the money back in case of need. Naomi, you have a follow up.

Yeah, so if you go to the Cordu project website for the Extend program,

And you click on the project website link.

It brings you to the extend website, and the first words that you read are military grade drones.

So it's really, really clear that that EU money of €50,000 was used

to develop military technology that is now being sold to the Israeli Defense Forces.

So can you comment on that specific case?

Would you be asking for that money back in that case? Thank you. Yes, it's here.

I would not comment on, on a specific case from this podium.

I have to look into this specific case, but I can, however, recall, and let me be again very clear on that,

we have mechanisms in place to make sure that funds are not being misused on the ground.

We keep monitoring this very seriously and will not speculate further than that.

Thanks, other questions on this matter specifically.

Andreas Sperl is not on this, so other questions for Thomas since he's here with me.

No, I will try to take Andreas from remote because I tried already twice and then I will revert to the press room. Thanks, Andreas. 3 is the charm. Thank you.

I have a question regarding the president's interview last night with the Financial Times.

She was talking about a pretty precise plan, a clear road map,

tens of thousands of troops in Ukraine, European troops. She has very far here.

Can you explain a little bit further in detail and if

this is part of this week's meeting in Paris, is that happening? Is she invited?

So there are a lot of questions.

Maybe you can help me clear this a little bit. Thank you.

Thanks, I'll start and then of course Anita, if she wants to chip in,

you're always welcome to join on your question on a possible meeting in Paris.

I read in the press on Thursday of the coalition of the willing at this stage I don't have any confirmation to share with you,

otherwise, of course, I would have announced it in the agenda of the president at the beginning of the midday.

On her interview, I believe she has further elaborated on what we have always been considering or whether

she has always been putting forward andASA's commission as

well as key elements of security guarantees for Ukraine.

Security guarantees for Ukraine should come in our view first and above

all from the strength of the Ukrainian armed forces who should not.

Be restricted in their scope in the numbers

and in the possibility of cooperating with third countries.

This is a first element the president has always been very clear that what she calls as a porcupine strategy,

so to make Ukraine undigjustable for any external aggressor

and of course Russia above all is absolutely key. Second line of these security guarantees.

Indeed the support provided by the coalition of the willing and of course the European Union with them with a commitment by the

United States that she has always welcomed and is of relevance in

ensuring security guarantees that can provide Ukraine with sufficient certainty going ahead. She has indeed.

A bit further yesterday evening on what this security guarantees could be looking as you know there have been ongoing

reflections on this since a number of weeks and perhaps months at technical level,

at political level, military engagements as well.

So this is basically what is shaping up and why the president

is saying that as of now there is a pretty precise plan.

As concerns the security guarantees, then of course further security guarantees are, as we have always said, the scale up of defense capabilities in the European Union and

all we have been doing in the sense and here of course important to

take into account what the president has been announcing and saying during her visit.

At the frontline member states these past few days, Thomas can eventually elaborate on all the spectrum of activities that we are carrying out to strengthen our defense capabilities in our union and last but not least,

of course, enlargement and the possibility for Ukraine to decide whether it

wants to go ahead with the enlargement process with the European Union. Is also key in this respect.

We have always said that this choice has to be in the hands of Ukraine, and we reconfirm this is the case.

So basically the president has provided a bit more insight and has elaborated a bit further on those that are the core principles

that we consider to be at the heart of security guarantees that can work and grant a just and lasting peace for Ukraine. Andreas, you have a follow up.

Yeah, sorry to, to, to, to, to make a, make a more precise.

So this sounded maybe the journalists got it wrong from the FT they sounded more that there is clear.

The idea is a clear plan and it's And when you look to Berlin, to Paris to London,

especially to Berlin from our German perspective, of course,

it seems that there's not that kind of clarity.

So where does the confidence of the president is coming from in this matter?

There are Commission representatives that participate in these technical level talks.

The president is in constant contact with the leaders.

Therefore, it is the view of the president formed through this information that she gets in discussions with the leaders,

as well as technical level engagements that there is a plan that is coming to shape.

There is a clear roadmap, as she has said, towards building these security guarantees.

She has said that for example in last week's meeting of the coalition of the willing and Defense chiefs,

they have worked out a pretty precise plan for this engagement.

She has also reiterated that of course it always needs political decision making from the specific member states involved because for example, deploying troops is clearly a national competence, but I think that she considers that the sense of urgency that surrounds the current state of the war of doing everything in our

capabilities to make sure that Ukraine is in a position of strength if and when Russia decides to engage at the negotiating table, are pushing all partners,

including the European Union but very much beyond with the coalition of the

willing and with the United States to want to contribute to these security guarantees. Other questions on this matter. Mo is on this.

Yeah, I will come also to you. One second. Thank you.

Yes, I would also like to clarify this issue about security guarantees for Ukraine because it seems to me I haven't read this interview,

but how does this differ from what Steve King said

at the closing remarks after the informal Defense Council meeting.

In Grim in Copenhagen on Friday because Carla was quite vague and more or less they talked about,

I think, continued the EU military assistance to Ukraine and also I say military training.

And what he said, among others, was that any secure guarantees on the ground, not by the EU itself,

but by the coalition willing, depending also on what he called American backstop.

I wonder what does that American backstop include and if there are there any plans,

let's say for military troops on the ground either for the member states to form a coalition of.

Willing other countries in the case of a peace deal and other figures that say how many troops that would number, for example, and last but not least I mentioned enlargement Arianna and there you have,

as you know, this EU mutual defense clause, Article 427 in the Treaty smit,

is that still relevant or would it take

too long to wait for For Ukraine to join. You Thanks, Mossé.

I think that what the president has said yesterday evening is very much in line with what the HRVP has said following the Gymnich on Friday,

but of course, Anita can eventually confirm and add more on the HRVP's perspective.

The president has used exactly the same language, so she has been spoken, speaking of a backstop by the United States.

She has said that there are works ongoing on a possible

plan for a multinational troop with a backstop of the United States. She didn't provide further elements.

She has said that there is concrete work towards a very practical roadmap that will hopefully be soon.

Presented and ready, so works are advancing.

We don't have details to share at this stage, of course, beyond what the president has said, but just to say that as I was saying, there is a very much a shared sense of urgency and

works are going ahead well in the sense because it's in everyone's interest to have a strong Ukraine

at the negotiating table if and when we will get to that negotiating table on enlargement,

what I mean.

The long term perspective of Ukraine to enter into the European Union is a security guarantee in itself,

and it's important that it remains in the hands of the Ukrainians first and foremost.

Then of course we cannot prejudge the timing of it.

Ukraine has already completed a number of essential reforms.

It has done so under incredibly difficult circumstances with a war on its territory. It has made progress.

You know that we have a recommendation to the council to open cluster one, and we hope this will be possible soon, but of course the rest of the process, it will depend on Ukraine's capabilities of taking forward

the reforms that are needed to be considered for as a country that can join the European Union and then

of course it will be also for the member states to confirm so there I cannot speculate in any way. Yes, go ahead.

Yes, Stephanie, you, I mean, the question initial question was, to, to hear more about this pretty precise plans and clear road map because listening to the ministers at the informal meeting in Copenhagen, my impression wasn't that it's so clear because I mean the the the basis for such a plan is that there is

a peace agreement and there are big doubts that There is a peace agreement anytime soon, so I'm wondering what the Commission president wanted to say concretely with these precise plans,

and then you said that the Commission is involved in these talks

in technical level who concretely participating in these talks from the Commission side. Thank you.

On the second question, we don't give out names of officials that are not political representatives,

so we will not be providing names of who is attending, but the commission.

Is represented your question is quite similar I find to what Mose has said.

I, I find very much in line what the president has been saying to what the ministers have been discussing.

There is a plan that is shaping up.

We're not in a position to share the details, of course, but of course.

For the security guarantees to enter into force, there has to be a peace agreement.

What we're working on is to put Ukraine at the negotiating table with a package of security guarantees that can make

Ukraine feel solid when it negotiates its positions with Russia, but clearly that is a step that has to be achieved.

And for most when Russia will decide to engage, so far we have not seen this engagement from the Russian side, so we look forward to real negotiations that can achieve a just and lasting peace for Ukraine,

but we're clearly not there, and this is why work continues still on the security guarantees to be prepared for that moment. Go ahead. Thank you, Vitaly, freedom, just clarification.

Yesterday President mentioned multinational troops with a backstop of the Americans and presence of the Americans.

How will President and the you see.

Do see this presence of Americans, is,

is the troops on the ground in air defense or air forces if you can clar clarify,

thank you.

No, I'm afraid I don't have more details to share.

This possibility of support by the United States to the security guarantees came out of the meeting that was held in Washington a couple of weeks ago, and at that time,

the president has welcomed the commitment of the United States to participate in the security guarantees,

but she has never entered into the detail of what this participation would look like.

She has not done so yesterday, so of course it's not also for me to do this today.

Go ahead I imagine it's on this.

You need to wait for the microphone to turn red. Is it green?

Yeah, now it will turn red and then you can speak. Perfect. I follow the money. Thank you for taking my question.

So today followed the money reported that Commission President von der Leyen sent

her text messages on the messaging app signal on auto delete using signals.

I am sorry, is this related to security guarantees and no it isn't OK then wait one second, please. I apologies, we go by topic. Other questions on this matter.

I have a couple of hands raised from remote. Fabio, is it on this?

Yes, I'm wondering if you can tell us the commission's opinion

on the possibility that China will join this peace forces in Ukraine. Thank you.

I have just outlined what the view of the European Commission is as regards the security guarantees as we said, a very strong Ukrainian armed force strategy of the porcupine and adjustable for Ukraine,

important security guarantees by the coalition of the willing by the United States with this backstop by the United States,

so we were saying, then defense in Europe, and, and these are the core elements of it. Fabio So no kind. Look, at this stage.

The European Commission is engaging with the member states and with the coalition of the

willing in building a security guarantees that can work for Ukraine in the long term.

I cannot speculate on what further discussions will be if and when Putin comes to the negotiating table.

As of today, this is the setting in which security guarantees are being discussed among allies that support Ukraine,

and this is what we're working towards. Finn on this.

Fin but you need to press on stick.

I can see you, but I cannot hear you. You can't hear me. Now we do. OK, thank you.

Related question, obviously the Russian invasion of Ukraine goes on.

The Russians have allegedly tried to interfere with the president's plan today, but, on the same day we see at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tianjin,

Prime Minister of India and the president of China both pledging to deepen.

Security, trade, and energy ties with Putin with with Russia.

So I wanted to ask what the commission feels will be the impact on the

EU's relations with India and China as they both pursue deeper ties again with with Russia. Thank you very much.

Thanks looking at Anita if she wants to join me,

but I think we have bilateral relationships with India and with China,

and we discuss all matters with our international partners.

Both India and China are very well aware of what our view of this.

Of aggression against Ukraine is and are reiterated calls to not provide

means to Russia to carry out its war of aggression against Ukraine.

This has been a long standing position by the Commission and of course it remains the case today. Other questions for us today.

Finn Bar, you have a follow up.

Yes, just very briefly, it's been said in the past that vis a vis EU-China relationship that,

Russia will be the determining factor.

President von der Leyen has said that several times.

Would you say the same thing vis a vis EU India relations that, you know,

deepening India ties with with Putin's Russia could be

a decisive factor in how the EU-India relationship evolves. Thank you.

I think we have a very important relationship with India.

The college has been visiting India in the month of January.

We're working towards trade agreements with India.

Our relationship continues to engage in the positive agenda that we share with our Indian partners in this context,

of course we also mention those that are elements of concern for the European Union

and clearly Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is at the top of those concerns.

Other questions for us, Jorge, go ahead.

Yes, it's about Bulgaria again but a different thing because there were reports that there was a nationalist demonstration while the president

was there and they tried to prevent her from entering a

weapons plant in a city that she was trying to visit.

They were blocking the car that supposedly had the president inside.

So can you tell us if the president was indeed in that car that the nationalists tried to stop,

or was she entering through another passage? Thank you.

I would not have this information myself as I am not traveling with with her,

so I'm not aware of which car was allegedly stopped or

not it's true that she was going to visit, this plant.

She actually visited this plant that's gonna be seen by the images.

I did not have feedback of specific issues on the

ground other than the GPS jamming we were mentioning before.

Demonstrations can happen, of course, in all member states.

And do happen in many locations around our union or not, it's a legitimate possibility for people to express their, their views so I,

I wouldn't have information on this specific instance, but it would not be the first and I imagine not the last,

the president's agenda is, is well known.

So if people want to express their views, in, in her presence, it can happen from time to time.

I, I, as I said, I don't have a specific difficulties to, to report on. Yes, go ahead.

Thank you, Aline Trichet from the French daily La Croix.

So I'm just back from maternity leave and trying to catch up with everything that happened since the beginning of the year.

And when it comes to simplification, there's really been a lot.

And even though if we're we're already close to the first anniversary of the Draghi report, and I have the feeling that there hasn't been a lot on

on sorry on capital union common debt or the idea of investing more together,

so I was planning how you plan to fix this imbalance and also when. Thank you. Thanks.

First and foremost, congratulations on the maternity and welcome back.

Indeed on simplification, we have been carrying out a lot of activities.

We had, if I remember correctly, 6 packages presented already throughout the month,

so there's a lot of engagement in this sense.

Of course, the president has outlined a number of key priorities.

For the European Union both in her political guidelines and then at the start of the mandate, she has,

delivered or this college has delivered on a very wide number of of these

priorities but of course work remains to be done on the savings and investment union.

I would look at my colleague Thomas who is replacing OOF if he has information to share today.

But otherwise we will, look into it and revert to see exactly where, where we stand in, in the process, but it is a clear engagement,

towards which we are, we are working, and,

I think also the work on simplification, will continue at full force.

Indeed it will be soon one year since the Draghira, so I'm sure that there will be occasions to, Discuss all the commission has achieved in this first year of mandate,

and, and, I'm sure that Tama can provide further information on the savings and investment union later to you. Other questions for us. Last questions that we can take.

So let's go here, follow the money colleague.

So today a following money reported that Commission President von der Leyen sent her text messages on the messaging app signal on auto delete using the signal's disappearing messages feature,

thereby deleting a text message sent by President Emmanuel Macron of France, and I have two questions.

First, why does President von der Leyen.

Delete all the text messages and how does that square with the Commission's obligation to keep and give access to documents under the EU's Fundamental Rights Charter, and second,

for what time frame are messages retained before they are automatically deleted and are all messages reviewed by head of cabinet Björn Seibert,

as happened with the Macron message. Thank you.

Mr President, let me start by reminding you that according to Article 7 of Decision 20.212.121, that's very specific,

documents shall be registered if they contain important information which is not short-lived or if

they may involve action or follow up by the Commission or one of its departments.

Let me also remind you and perhaps my colleagues

can chip in that the nature of messages on.

Message exchange application is not the Commission, according to our rules,

does not foresee the exchange of messages that relate to

policy or policy related actions to be exchanged on these platforms.

This is why it was considered in the past that these messages did not need

registration as they were short-lived and did not involve actions or followups by the commission. The commission has several.

Safety practices that it recommends to its staff.

This of course also applies to the president.

This includes, for example,

the exchange of devices on a regular basis with a formatting of the previous devices.

It happens for all staff members, of course,

at different points in time throughout the year and throughout the mandate.

Also there is a general practice, I believe, to put on how to delete a number of messages to.

To save space and to, and to ensure also the protection of information,

but my colleagues can perhaps provide additional insights on what are the general rules, Balás.

And I think I would just recall that in May 2025 the court actually confirmed that the rules that Arianna has just referred to are absolutely fine,

so the way we handle access the document requests and the way we manage documents within the commission have been found to be effective by the court,

and indeed the rules are the ones that Arianna has just referred to.

On the one hand, it is possible that SMSs may have to be registered, but only if they do not contain short-lived information,

in other words,

only if they contain information that would require follow up from the commission.

And on the other hand, indeed, when it comes to members of the college, there is a practice of frequently exchanging mobile devices,

for example, and in such cases, only a very limited amount of information is transferred from one device to another.

And for what concerns signals specifically, there is a checklist that we have published in July of 2022 called Checklist to Make Your Signal Safer issued by the

Competence Commission Service that recommends activating disappearing messages feature specifically to prevent possible data

leaks and of course the president has activated this feature to comply with the rules. All this information.

And a lot more information on this matter can be found in the decision that we have

adopted on the 28th of July on an

application of access to documents and is publicly available.

If you cannot find it on our websites, we are of course very happy to point you to the relevant link,

but it is public and there you can find all the reasoning of why the messages were not retained. You have a follow-up.

We will have to close midday because it's more than an hour, so a short follow-up.

Yeah, just on my second question, is it correct that all messages are reviewed by Mr.

Seibert or who is responsible for reviewing these messages? Thank you.

I said, disappearing messages feature is activated.

The messages to be retained are purely the ones that contain policy indications or require follow-up actions by the commission or

its departments in the few cases of doubt because very often it's,

it's very straightforward that they don't comply with these requirements.

It is the president, together with her head of cabinet, that looks into the messages in the specific message that you're mentioning, as you can read in the decision which I believe we have shared with you already and is at the basis of your article,

so I think I'm repeating things that you know very well,

but the president and her head of cabinet discussed the message and

they considered that it related to a very well established and very.

Very well publicly known position of the commission that was communicated by France to positioned by France to the commission in the past also council

formations and therefore there was no value added in keeping the message as

it related to matters that were very much already in the public domain.

With this, since it's more than an hour, we're together, apologies, I cannot take your question.

Let's discuss bilaterally, now I wish you all a very nice afternoon.

We will be back tomorrow with our next, midday briefing and thanks a lot to everyone,

also the interpreters, of course, for having helped us out today. Goodbye.