| Hello and welcome to the new-look Brussels Edition newsletter. I'm Suzanne Lynch, Brussels bureau chief, and I'll be bringing you all the latest from the heart of the European Union each weekday afternoon. With the EU playing an increasingly significant role in economic and geopolitical affairs, the relaunched and streamlined newsletter will cut through the noise and make sure you're up to speed on the news that matters most – from the top stories by our journalists in Brussels to exclusive interviews from our TV and radio studios. (Make sure you're signed up.) It's back-to-school for EU officials today with the start of the unofficial "rentreé" season. There's already been some unexpected drama. The European Commission confirmed this lunchtime an earlier FT report that a plane carrying the EU executive's president, Ursula von der Leyen, was affected by GPS jamming as it landed in Bulgaria yesterday. The government in Sofia blamed Russia. According to Bulgarian authorities, the GPS signal was "neutralized" as the chartered plane approached Plovdiv airport, forcing air-traffic control to use alternative navigation tools. As Bloomberg recently reported, GPS jamming incidents have significantly increased, particularly in the Baltic region. News of the incident emerged as von der Leyen wraps up a four-day trip across Europe. Speaking alongside Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda this morning before heading to Romania, she pledged additional funding for member states directly bordering Russia and Belarus.  Lithuania's Nausėda during a Bloomberg TV interview in Brussels in March. Photographer: Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg But while Nausėda called for frozen Russian assets to be seized to help Ukraine, von der Leyen fudged the issue. She urged reflection on the "next steps," amid continuing disagreement within the EU about the legality of using the underlying assets rather than the interest they generate. Meanwhile, after a bruising summer for Europe as it found itself sidelined by US President Donald Trump on the Ukraine war and forced to swallow a painful compromise on trade tariffs, European Council President Antonio Costa addressed the criticisms head-on. Speaking today at the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia, he acknowledged the "frustration felt by many Europeans" who argue that the EU has been too passive. While the EU doesn't welcome tariffs, it has to be "honest about the broader picture," he said. "Escalating tensions with a key ally over tariffs, while our Eastern border is under threat, would have been an imprudent risk." | 
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