TÜV refused because of rust stain on the fender, request for advice

Hello dear community, at my last HU a rust spot on the fender was classified as EM. The paint was not peeled off, but the examiner scratched something with the screwdriver. It does not seem to me to be safety relevant and the car (Passat B7) is over 10 years old and has 280,000 km on it. The examiner said that it had to be welded, but the workshop tells me on the phone that you can only replace it. Could you take a look at the picture. Bad luck with the examiner? Really swap, or can you fix it without replacing the fender?