Good morning from Berlin,

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing a critical vote on Sunday. His social-democrat SPD party risks losing an election in Brandenburg for the first time, with some questioning whether he should re-run for the country’s chancellorship.

In national polls, SPD comes third, below the far-right AfD and centre-right CDU. In Brandenburg, his party is neck-and-neck with AfD, which has managed to put its anti-migration rhetoric high on the agenda. 

Feeling the pressure from the rise of the opposition parties, Berlin restarted controls at all borders and is considering turning away migrants unilaterally.

It has indicated it is even open to discussing Italy's ‘Albania model' at the EU level. Rome has been planning to take migrants to Albania to process their asylum claims, mostly for deterrence reasons.

Germany’s plan aims to bridge the two-year "gap" before the new EU Migration Pact enters into force in 2026. 

Berlin is also preparing to increase the number of asylum seekers it sends back to first-line countries. The German Ministry of Interior told Euractiv that it expects all member states to comply with the current legal framework for migration, known as the Dublin III Regulation.

However, some European first-line countries have reacted. According to a Greek government official, Athens will take the matter to the next EU summit in October.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has designed her second-term commissioner team to ‘divide and rule’ in the next five years. Alexandra Brzozowski and Magnus Lund Nielsen have the story. Meanwhile, Slovenia finally submitted nomination papers for Marta Kos to become its European commissioner.

The EU’s new clean industrial strategy must strike a balance between protecting key industries, not unduly shielding others, and creating a strong business case for clean products, key EU officials said on Wednesday – with one admitting ‘a big debate on funding’ will ensue. 

On the trade front, EU and China have agreed to re-examine the possibility of setting a minimum price for Chinese automakers selling electric vehicles to avoid definitive tariffs of up to 35.3%, signalling a negotiated solution to the year-long trade dispute between the two blocs could be within reach.

In tech, Apple was asked by the Commission to align the interoperability of its products with the digital competition rules.

Lastly, Euractiv “imagined” a 2029 farewell speech by Teresa Ribera, the incoming European Commission Executive Vice-President for the Clean Transition.

ROME | MADRID

Partido Popular leader Alberto Nùnez Feijòo met the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome and praised her migration policy, which focuses on stopping boats leaving Tunisia and Libya and setting up asylum application processing centres in Albania. Read more.

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MADRID

Spain denies coercing Venezuelan opposition leader as diplomatic row deepens. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares on Thursday strongly denied that Madrid had forced Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia to sign a document recognising the victory of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the recent elections, as a leading member of Spain’s Partido Popular had previously claimed. Read more.

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LISBON

Commission to soon reply to member states’ request to postpone budget plan. The European Commission will soon respond to the request of 20 member states, including Portugal, to postpone the deadline for submitting the medium-term structural budget plan until October, a source close to the process told Lusa on Thursday. Read more.

Portuguese farmers have ‘high hopes’ in new agri commissioner. The Portuguese Farmers’ Confederation (CAP) has high expectations of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s choice for the new agriculture commissioner, Christophe Hansen, and is confident that he will pay attention to the sector, the group said on Thursday. Read more.

WARSAW | BRATISLAVA

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pledged EU-funded aid to help repair the damage caused by recent floods as she visited the western Polish city of Wroclaw on Thursday. Read more.

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PRAGUE

Flooded Czech municipalities struggle to organise elections. Preparations are now well underway for the elections for local councils and a third of the Senate on Friday and Saturday in Czechia, albeit under extremely difficult conditions in the flooded regions. Read more.

SOFIA |SKOPJE

Bulgaria’s Borissov calls for North Macedonia’s deputy PM to resign. Boyko Borissov, leader of Bulgaria’s largest party, GERB, on Thursday called for the resignation of Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Alexander Nikoloski over his comments about Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and Bulgaria, further adding fuel to the ongoing ‘missing flag’ scandal. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Romania to boost ammunition acquisition amid border war. Romania is to speed up the procurement of ammunition in response to Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine, the Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT), chaired by President Klaus Iohannis, decided on Thursday. Read more.

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LJUBLJANA

Slovenia removes obstacle to EU confirmation of new commissioners. The Slovenian government finally submitted nomination papers for Marta Kos to become its European commissioner on Thursday, paving the way for the European Parliament to kick-off its confirmation procedures, Slovenian government and EU sources told Euractiv. Read more.

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