Upper House Passes Labor Reform, Immigration Laws

The German parliament's upper house, the Bundesrat, convenes for the last time before its summer break on Friday with a packed agenda to work through. Members of the body, which represents Germany's federal states, face discussion and decision on 99 drafts for laws and regulations including the highly contentious issues of job market reform and immigration policy -- both of which have already been through tough negotiation sessions.

Also on the agenda were greenhouse gas emission trading, education, and a controversial can deposit plan.

Opposition to the government's labor reforms, which was expected to be the primary sticking point on the busy schedule, was overcome early in the session.

Welfare reform made law

The Bundesrat has now made law the recently approved changes to the country's unemployment and social welfare systems which are scheduled to take effect in January. It will mark the first reduction of benefits since the Second World War. With agreement on both sides of the house for the most important part of the government's labor reform plan, this can be seen as an important victory for the governing Social Democratic-Green coalition.

The Social Democrats and the Greens may still face a hard time over the proposed fifty-hour working week, billed as the latest remedy for the country's high unemployment, which has already raised heckles ahead of the Bundesrat's final session.

Final hurdle for immigration law

The Upper House also passed Germany's first law on immigration, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2005. The law comes after years of heated discussion, negotiation and sometimes vitiolic mud-slinging.

The far-reaching legislation, which which was passed by the lower house at the beginning of July, aims to ease the entry of highly qualified immigrants and promote their integration into German society. It almost went down to defeat due to security measures that were added to it in the wake of the March 11 bombings in Madrid, but a compromise was eventually found.

The subject of greenhouse gas emission trading will also be tackled. Germany received a partial approval of its national emissions trading plan by the European Commission on Thursday. The new plan is expected to encourage the modernization of the country's power plants. But for the German plans to be passed as law, the Bundesrat must approve the proposal with an absolute majority.

Alcopop tax vetoed

For the second time, the Bundesrat vetoed a government proposal to raise taxes on so-called alcopops, sweetened drinks with high alcohol content that have proved very popular with young people. The government proposed in May a tax of between 80 and 90 cents per bottle to reduce sales to youth which have boomed over the last year.

Despite the veto, it is expected that the bill will return to a special session of the Bundestag, where it will likely pass with a necessary majority of 301 votes. The new tax would then to in effect in August 2.