Italy Poised to Pass Labor Laws Everyone Concedes Are Flawed ROME - If things go his way in the lower house this week, Prime Minister Mario Monti will arrive at the summit meeting of the European Union in Brussels on Thursday with a freshly passed package of labor laws, a token of Italy's dependability in enacting crucial change. Yet the package has been widely criticized in its intention to introduce greater freedom into a highly regulated market. Unions say it goes too far; business groups say it doesn't go far enough. Even lawmakers have expressed deep doubts, reluctantly pledging to pass the package this week as a sign of good will. But in a further indication of the difficulties Mr. Monti faces in what increasingly appears to be an uphill battle to change the economy, the government had to call four confidence votes, all scheduled for Tuesday, so that the bills would not be modified and thus need to go back to the Senate. "This reform has come with an enormous political cost for the government, and still risks making everyone unhappy" even after months of negotiations and concessions, said Roberto D'Alimonte, a professor of political science at the Luiss School of Government in Rome. It shows the limits of a technical government that has lots its ability to set the agenda. With Italy mired in recession, its economy shrinking for the third straight quarter, an unemployment rate that surpassed 10 percent this month and dismal growth prospects ahead, the labor package is one of the principal underpinnings of Mr. Monti's agenda to spur growth. The package is also meant to rebalance the two-tier labor market, in which some workers, mostly older ones, have guaranteed open-ended contracts, while others struggle to enter the job market or are offered fixed-term contracts with negligible job security. The package includes incentives for employers to hire workers but also loosens laws that have made it difficult to fire workers, which some industrialist lobbies say is practically impossible to do. Companies will be able to fire for economic reasons, but workers will still be able to fight those dismissals in court and be compensated if successful. The package also introduces new unemployment benefits. Some analysts, like Roger Abravanel, a former management consultant who has written several books exploring the reasons behind Italy's diminished economic growth, say the government lost an opportunity to push through more radical measures. "The labor reform is inadequate" because it does not address shortcomings in the labor market that stifle the economy, like the high cost of labor, Mr. Abravanel said. Because companies with more than 15 employees are bound by restrictions, "companies stay small," he said. But being small is unproductive. Vincenzo Ferrante, a professor of labor law in Piacenza for Sacred Heart Catholic University, praised some elements of the package, like those that help young people entering the job market with apprenticeship contracts. But its language, he said, "has been dipped in the tongue of the Sybil," expressing concepts in an ambiguous way that he believes will provoke clashes between workers and employers when the laws are applied. "The text will require years of interpretation on the part of judges," he said. Lawmakers have said they plan to ask for changes once the package is passed, to reduce the expected negative effect on workers. "They could have done something more, more detailed and courageous," said Mr. Ferrante, who stopped short of fully criticizing the government. "Better this reform" with all its flaws "than nothing."