For the past three months, a bipartisan group of 20 parliamentarians has gathered to hammer out a compromise on one of Germany's most divisive and pressing issues.

On Friday, the group of immigration specialists took stock of their negotiations and discussed whether to continue what has until now been a fruitless debate on fashioning a new law.

Germany's conservative Christian Democrats want to avoid the prospect of bringing in more immigrants at a time when 4.5 million Germans are unemployed. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrat-Green coalition government, citing the country's low birth rate and need for qualified workers, wants to set up a point system that would match prospective immigrants to German industry's need for certain employees.

Out with the old, in with the old

The positions are well-established, being the same ones used when the Bundestag passed the country's first law in March 2002 to heavy protest by opposition politicians. That law was struck down by Germany's highest court a month before it was to take effect on Jan. 1, 2003 because the way in which it passed the country's upper house of parliament was ruled illegal.

With the old law legally dead, the coalition government dusted off the draft and tried pushing it through parliament again where it landed in the hands of the working group. Missing this time is the heated rhetoric calling for a stop to all immigration that gave rise to infamous slogans like "children, not Indians," a conservative criticism of government policy to recruite high-tech workers from India.

Immigration actually down, call for cool heads

Germany's Immigration Commissioner said Friday she hoped negotiaters would stay calm. A new report by her office shows that the number of immigrants to Germany continues to drop. Compared to the 843,000 that immigrated last year, 623,000 left the country, according to Marieluise Beck.

"We are not only an immigration country, we're also an emigration country," Beck said in announcing the report. "There is no need for an exciteable discussion on immigration."

Underscoring the coalition government's push for more qualified workers was another report from the Institute for Employment Research that shows 15 percent of West German firms are reporting a major lack of qualified workers.

Need for university graduates will rise

Report author Elmar Hönekopp added that the need for highly-educated immigrants will continue to increase in the future, while the need for low-skilled workers will decrease.

Both the CDU and the coalition seem to agree that Germany needs more qualified workers. But SPD and Green politicians want a broad system assigning points to each immigrant applicant based on their desirability for the German economy. The CDU would prefer to review each applicant on a case-by-case basis, CDU domestic affairs parliamentarian Wolfgang Bosbach told German radio. Bosbach said the point system didn't show "proof of a job" before welcoming incoming immigrants.

The discussion is expected to continue over the next few months until the law is again brought up before parliament. Interior Minister Otto Schily said he is optimistic about securing a deal before the summer break.