According to Labor Minister Petr Nečas, the program could bring some 50,000 unskilled foreing workers to the Czech Republic, mostly to fill jobs that Czechs do not want.

If the amendment is approved by the Czech senate and President Václav Klaus, foreign job candidates will be able to start applying for green cards in January 2009, HN wrote. The only necessary qualification to obtain a green card will be sufficient education for the position.

The green cards are intended to make it easier to hire workers from outside the European Union for jobs which the employer does not manage to fill in 30 days.

In Friday's parliamentary debate, the opposition ČSSD came out strongly against the measure, warning that the country would be flooded by hundreds of thousands of foreigners from "poor" Arab and African countries.

"Now we are making a decision whether we will let in this flood of people from the Third World or not, and we should carefully weigh the consequences this measure will bring," Lubomir Zaorálek, the Deputy Parliament Chairman for the ČSSD said in a speech earlier last week.

According to ČSSD party member Václav Šlajs, "his" town of Plzeň now has more than 15 percent of foreigners – to its own detriment.

"In some areas, mothers are afraid to go out on the streets with their children in the evenings. In the Plzeň suburbs and locations where foreigners are housed, there are big problems. According to the latest police data, the [drug related] criminality of these citizens is growing dramatically," Šlajs said.

In regard to the green cards, the proposed amendment states that:

- the green card can only be granted for positions that have been advertised in the central jobs registry for 30 days and have not been filled.

- the applicant may only come from countries approved by the Czech Foreign Ministry.

- the applicant must apply for the green card at the Czech embassy in his own country.

- there are three types of cards: type A is for college graduates and is valid for a maximum of three years, type B is for high school graduates for two years, and type C is for all others education levels and is for two years.

The amendment also cuts the period of unemployment compensation by one month. The amount of compensation will also change: in the first two months, people will get 65 percent of their average net wages; for the next two months only 50 percent; and for the rest of the time, only 45 percent.

People who, after five months of unemployment, refuse to undergo requalification training or refuse to cooperate with their labor office to create a personal plan to find a job will lose their compensation.

The fine for illegally employing someone will increase to five million Kč from two million Kč.