BERLIN, Nov 5: The ruling Social Democrat-Green coalition of Germany has reached agreement on a crucial draft law on immigration, Interior Minister Otto Schily said in Berlin on Monday.

“The draft law on immigration took some effort, which makes me even more pleased that we could agree,” Schily, who belongs to the Social Democratic party (SPD) said about talks between the two parties on Sunday.

The law aims to match immigration to Germany’s job needs. A points system ranks those seeking to enter the country in relation to their ability to work in industries in need of skilled labour.

The country of origin and competence in speaking German are also taken into account.

Immigration is a hotly debated topic in Germany, with right-wing parties that oppose SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder saying the country hosts too many foreigners.

They also charge that a large number of foreigners here, many from Turkey, have no interest in learning the language and integrating into German society, and that immigrants are taking jobs away from native Germans.

Schroeder’s cabinet is expected to debate the draft law on Wednesday.

A key sticking point was the SPD agreeing to the Greens’ demand that Germany accept as asylum seekers not only those suffering from persecution from their government but those who were victims in their home countries of other sorts of persecution, such as prejudice against women.

The draft legislation now says that non-state and sexually specific forms of persecution are reasons to block a person’s deportation from Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper reported Monday.

It said the upper age limit for children wanting to join their parents in Germany is to be cut from 16 only to 14, and not to 12, as previously requested by Schily.—AFP