Integration deal after Berlin meeting marathon

The governing Christian Democratic Union, Christian Social Union and Social Democratic Party are applauding the "good measures" in a new draft integration law for refugees agreed to early Thursday after a seven-hour meeting in Berlin. The legislation would also include anti-terror measures.

The parties announced plans to decide on their "principles of support and challenges" at a closed-door meeting in Meseberg on May 24, according to news agencies.

Citing a six-page issues paper, news agencies reported that the new measures would see asylum support cut for refugees who do not live up to Germany's integration requirements.

'One-euro jobs'

The measures would attempt to more swiftly move refugees, many of whom have fled civil war in Syria, into the labor market by suspending for three years a measure that prohibits the employment of non-Europeans in positions that German citizens or EU citizens are qualified for, news agencies reported. Refugees could also take on day labor under the new plan.

The plan would create 100,000 "one-euro jobs," in which refugees can work for a wage generally between 1 euro and 2.50 ($1.13-2.80) without their earnings counting against asylum support, according to news agencies. Business leaders have suggested that refugees could prove beneficial to Germany's economy in the long term, though the number of arrivals has slowed.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel led the meeting, which was attended by the relevant government ministers from the coalition parties, as well as Christian Social Union head Horst Seehofer.

mkg/bw (Reuters, AFP, dpa)