The scandal in the Bundesrat reveals the chancellor as the ringleader of a camp that cannot push its 'reforms' through without resorting to parliamentary brute force and trickery

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Behind Friday's narrow vote in the Bundesrat upper house to approve the law lay a decision on the question of power ahead of September's general election, the paper says.

"What was at stake was whether the great invisible one, the chancellor, could inflict a defeat on the opposition and his challenger in the last great clash before the general election - and how far he would go to achieve it."

The paper questions whether the SPD-led coalition government can really speak of success after the approval of the controversial bill.

"This 'success' has not enabled Schroeder to gain any ground in his fight with the opposition," it says.

"The scandal in the Bundesrat reveals the chancellor as the ringleader of a camp that cannot push its 'reforms' through without resorting to parliamentary brute force and trickery."

"The campaign will now focus more and more on what else the chancellor will do, or allow to happen, in order to stay in office," it concludes.

Seed of defeat

It could really be a dazzling political victory - if it did not come with the risk of ending in defeat in the courts

Berliner Zeitung

The left-of-centre Berliner Zeitung also hesitates to speak of a victory for Mr Schroeder, with the opposition conservatives expected to appeal against the outcome of the vote in the country's constitutional court.

The paper says Berlin's SPD mayor Klaus Wowereit, who holds the rotating Bundesrat presidency, disregarded "serious legal reservations" when he recognised a split vote in the state of Brandenburg - a move which precipitated the conservative walkout on the grounds that the constitution requires each state to vote unanimously.

"This victory contains the seed of defeat... It could really be a dazzling political victory - if it did not come with the risk of ending in defeat in the courts, and if the manner in which it was achieved were not so callous, insensitive and thoughtless."

The government may have brought new rules for immigration and the integration of foreigners into law, but at a heavy price

Frankfurter Rundschau

And it gets worse, the paper says, as all eyes turn to president and former SPD premier, Johannes Rau, who now has to decide whether to sign the legislation into law.

He is a Social Democrat, like Mr Schroeder, Mr Wowereit, and Brandenburg premier Manfred Stolpe, the paper notes.

"Should Rau be put in a position where his impartiality can be doubted, for the sake of a brutal victory? No - but Schroeder and his coalition have done just that."

A heavy price

The left-of-centre Frankfurter Rundschau is also critical of the government's actions.

"The government cannot escape the accusation that it approached this difficult law half-heartedly and ended up trying to ram it through regardless," it says.

The victims, once again, are Germany's foreigners

Sueddeutsche Zeitung

It laments the contentious way in which the law was passed, which has resulted in a constitutional conflict, and accuses both government and opposition of sacrificing the Brandenburg coalition in their desire to hold to the party line.

"That is why we have to speak of a Pyrrhic victory for the government," the paper says. "They may have brought new rules for immigration and the integration of foreigners into law, but at a heavy price."

Neither does the paper spare the opposition. They are "interested not in the issue and consensus, but in sharpening their political weapons," it says.

The real losers, however, says the centrist Sueddeutsche Zeitung, are the country's foreign workers.

"This new law on immigration and integration is the best of all imaginable laws... It is no miracle law. It is not even a particularly good law. But it is the best legislation governing foreigners that Germany has ever had," it says.

"The victims, once again, are Germany's foreigners. A day which could have ushered in a good integration policy will probably now contribute to turning Germany into a less civilized place," it concludes.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.