Good morning from Brussels,

Contrary to the official EU Commission line so far, Germany’s main opposition Christian Democrat CDU party wants the EU executive to fund the construction of fences at the bloc’s external borders to halt migration, a CDU official told Euractiv. 

First-line countries have asked for EU funding to build fences for years, but Brussels has repeatedly refused.

“Anyone who wants secure borders must also commit to border fortifications,” CDU’s lead MP on home affairs Alexander Throm said, indicating a new policy line for the future of EU migration policy. 

Meanwhile, CDU leader Friedrich Merz - who eyes the country’s chancellorship next year and feels the pressure from the far-right AfD – is visiting Brussels on Monday to explain his tough stance on migration in front of his EPP colleagues, a day after the Austrian anti-migration far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) triumphed in the national elections. 

An email sent to the European Commission and Parliament chiefs is expected to stir the waters ahead of the upcoming hearing of Greece’s commissioner candidate for the transport portfolio, Apostolos Tzitzikostas. The email was seen by Euractiv’s Sarantis Michalopoulos.

Meanwhile, on trade, Euractiv’s Thomas Moller-Nielsen has learnt that member states will vote on 4 October on whether to definitively impose duties on China-made electric vehicles. However, Brussels and Beijing will continue efforts to solve the long-running trade dispute even after the poll is conducted.

VIENNA

Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) secured victory in the general election for the first time in its history with 29% of the vote in Sunday’s elections, heralding a “new era” for Austria, according to leader Herbert Kickl. Read more.

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BERLIN 

Von der Leyen’s party pressures Brussels to fund Greek, Polish border fence. Germany's centre-right CDU (EPP) has urged the European Commission, led by fellow CDU member Ursula von der Leyen, to fund fences at the borders of Greece and Poland as new German border controls increase the pressure on countries of first entry. Read more.

Germany’s Buschmann wants to re-open EU sustainability reporting rules negotiations. Germany’s Justice Minister Marco Buschmann wants to reopen negotiations on the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) according to comments on Friday (27 September, one day after Germany and 16 other EU countries, received a yellow card from the Commission for missing deadlines to transpose the rules. Read more.

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PARIS

Breton: France's voice carries less weight in EU as Germany's influence grows. Former French European Commissioner Thierry Breton shared his concerns about France's loss of influence within the EU in an interview with Le Monde on Sunday, criticising Germany's leading role. Read more.

DUBLIN

Irish DPC fines Meta €91 million over password management lapse. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) fined Meta €91 million for “inadvertently” storing user passwords without cryptographic protection or encryption, closing a five-year-old case, according to a Friday press release. Read more.

ROME | BERLIN

Presidents of Italy, Germany send strong messages to the far-right. Italian President Sergio Mattarella and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who ended a three-day meeting with a ceremony commemorating a Nazi-fascist massacre, have sent a strong message to the far right. Read more.

Ciao, Bruxelles! EU farming policy speaks a little more Italian. Massimiliano Giansanti has been elected president of Copa, the influential EU umbrella organisation for farmers’ unions, cementing Italians’ presence in key positions of the EU agricultural bubble. Read more.

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MADRID

Spanish far-right MEP Alvise Pérez admits to illegal campaign financing on social media. Spanish far-right MEP Alvise Pérez admitted that he received €100,000 in undeclared cryptocurrencies from a businessman to partially finance his campaign for the European elections, and called for a ‘tax rebellion’ against the Spanish state. Read more.

WARSAW 

Poland’s Duda sued for remarks about film on asylum seekers. The Centre for Monitoring of Racism and Xenophobic Behaviour (OMZRiK) is suing Polish President Andrzej Duda, a former PiS member, for his comments about a 2023 film depicting the situation at the Polish-Belarusian border, where hundreds of migrants have been trying to enter Poland since mid-2021. Read more.

SOFIA 

Bulgaria risks losing billions in recovery money as parliamentary chaos ensues. Noisy scandals and the aggressive behaviour of radical pro-Russian and populist parties prevented the Bulgarian parliament from mustering the majority needed to pass key legislation on which billions of euros in Recovery and Resilience Plan payments depend. Read more.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Martina Monti, Alice Taylor-Braçe]