OREANDA-NEWS. The economic and environment committees of Germany's upper house of parliament has recommended that the chamber pass, without changes, the government's power market reform package on 8 July.

The committees held extraordinary meetings outside of their usual schedule to consult on the market reform proposal, which was adopted by the lower house of parliament on 23 June.

The committees recommended that the upper chamber, which represents Germany's 16 federal states, accept the reforms without calling on an arbitration committee between the two houses of parliament — an option if it wants changes to legislation.

The four members of the upper house's economic committee are from chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU-CSU union and her coalition government partner the SPD party. The committee had no further comments on the power market reforms.

But the upper house's environment committee, while not issuing a recommendation to seek formal changes to the law, urged Merkel's government to draw up a law to enforce a gradual phase-out of lignite and coal-fired power generation. An exit strategy should be socially responsible, in consultation with federal states and should address security of supply and decommissioning costs, the environment committee said.

The committee is headed by Stefan Wenzel of the the Green Party, which is lobbying for a German phase-out of coal and lignite-fired generation.

But the German government will not seek a law-enforced closure — highlighted recently in a draft of the country's post-2020 climate action plan.