BERLIN, March 1: A controversial German immigration law to let in skilled foreign workers passed its first hurdle on Friday but looked set to stall in the upper house as the election campaign intensifies.

After a bitter debate in the lower house of parliament, the ruling Social Democrats and their Greens partners passed legislation to allow in a controlled stream of migrant labour to counteract the decline in Germany’s population.

Most opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) voted against the reform and said they would try to block it in the Bundesrat or upper house on March 22, arguing that Germany should cut rather than increase immigration because unemployment was rising.

“Such a law opens the labour market to even higher immigration when we have 4.3 million unemployed, and it allows more immigration into the social security system — and that is why we reject it,” said CDU parliamentary leader Friedrich Merz.

Bavarian premier Edmund Stoiber, Schroeder’s conservative challenger in the September 22 election, told a newspaper on Friday that Germany had reached the limits of its ability to integrate more foreigners and that immigration could certainly be an election issue.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s government does not have a majority in the Bundesrat, where Germany’s 16 regions are represented, and he will need the support of at least one state where the CDU rules to get the law through.

“CAREFUL BALANCE”: In an unscheduled speech in parliament at the end of a noisy debate, Schroeder said he hoped the upper house deliberations would not be abused for election purposes.