German lawmakers today adopted a law limiting family reunification for refugees - a condition for the formation of a coalition government by conservatives and Social Democrats after months of post-election ambiguity.

Adopted with 376 against 298 votes, the text continues until 31 July a moratorium of 2016 on migrant families receiving "subsidiary protection". Such temporary asylum status has hundreds of thousands of people who are not officially recognized as refugees, especially Syrians fleeing war. From 1 August each month 1000 people will be allowed to immigrate to Germany for the purpose of family reunification. This quota will not include "emergency" cases. The Conservators party insisted on initially freezing the reunification of migrant families and the Social Democrats were for more favoritism, AFP said.