Today the German lower house Parliament (Bundestag) passed the Treaty of Lisbon by 515 supporting votes, 58 against and one abstention. The result is a huge boost for the Reform Treaty, taking into account that the necessary two-thirds majority (408 supporting votes) was surpassed by a wide margin. The upper house of the Parliament (the Bundesrat) is expected to take a vote on May 23rd. The result there is not expected to be much different from the one in the Bundestag. In order to ratify the treaty, the German President will also have to sign the corresponding law.
The Reform Treaty will enter into force on 1. January 2009, provided all 27 EU-Member States have ratified the treaty by then. So far, ten countries have given their final approval to the Lisbon Treaty. The Danish Parliament also passed the Treaty today by a 90-25 vote, as well as Austria. Ireland is the only country that will hold a referendum on the Treaty.
Who will vote next?
- April – Latvia
- After 29 April – Italy
- May – Estonia
- May – Lithuania
- May – United Kingdom (House of Lords)
- 23 May – Germany (Upper House)
- June – Luxembourg
- June – Netherlands
- 12 June – Ireland
- Mid-July – Belgium
- Autumn – Finland
- November – Sweden
- TBD – Cyprus
- TBD – Czech Republic
- TBD – Greece
- TBD – Spain
[…] of 12th June this year, when Ireland turned down the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon (we reported earlier on the ratification process), the Union finds itself in somewhat of a crises. The much needed structural changes that where to […]