Hungary has become the second country to ratify the European Union constitution with a parliamentary vote, seven months after joining the bloc. The vote follows on from Lithuania, another new member, whose MPs approved the new constitution in November.
The other 23 member states must approve the document by parliamentary vote or referendum before it can take effect. A No vote from any of the EU countries over the next two years would stop the constitution in its tracks. Hungary's MPs ratified the text, signed by EU leaders on 20 October, by 304 votes to nine. The first popular referendum is expected to take place in Spain in February.
Newcomers
There is intense scepticism in the UK, which could hold a referendum in 2006, while the outcome of similar votes in France, Denmark and the Netherlands is also uncertain.
The constitution intends to make the union function more smoothly and includes a big expansion in the number of policy areas where countries will lose their national veto. It will also create a foreign minister's post. Hungary was one of 10 countries to join the EU on 1 May this year.
Last week, EU leaders agreed to start accession talks with Turkey next October, but the process, if successful, could take 15 years. The EU has also announced that it will start accession talks with Croatia in April. Bulgaria and Romania are hoping to join the bloc in January 2007.
Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:1481, old post ID:18998
EU Constitution ratification
EU Constitution ratification
What's new for the EU in 2005?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4119071.stm
Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:1481, old post ID:19637
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4119071.stm
Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:1481, old post ID:19637
EU Constitution ratification
cut from: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/0...n.eu/index.html
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish voters gave overwhelming support for a European Union constitution Sunday, voting for ratification by a more than 4-1 margin in the first national vote on the proposed charter.
Interior Ministry figures showed 10.1 million voters -- 76.4 percent of the 13.3 million who cast ballots -- supported ratifying the constitution. Another 2.3 million people, or 17.4 percent, voted against the constitution, and another 6 percent cast blank ballots.
"Spain was the first country to vote in a referendum," Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said Sunday. "It has met the test with notable success. We have opened the road to ratification."
The constitution, signed by heads of EU governments last October in Rome, would draw the 25 member states closer politically and give the EU as a body greater powers.
Spain is the first to hold a national vote, and France will soon follow.
With so much at stake, French President Jacques Chirac joined Zapatero for a "yes" rally in Barcelona.
German Chancellor Gerard Schroeder also has been to Spain to offer political support to Zapatero.
Britain, Poland and the Netherlands are among some 10 countries also expected to put the proposed constitution to a popular vote -- which is why the EU governments watched the Spanish referendum so closely.
Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:1481, old post ID:24290
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish voters gave overwhelming support for a European Union constitution Sunday, voting for ratification by a more than 4-1 margin in the first national vote on the proposed charter.
Interior Ministry figures showed 10.1 million voters -- 76.4 percent of the 13.3 million who cast ballots -- supported ratifying the constitution. Another 2.3 million people, or 17.4 percent, voted against the constitution, and another 6 percent cast blank ballots.
"Spain was the first country to vote in a referendum," Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said Sunday. "It has met the test with notable success. We have opened the road to ratification."
The constitution, signed by heads of EU governments last October in Rome, would draw the 25 member states closer politically and give the EU as a body greater powers.
Spain is the first to hold a national vote, and France will soon follow.
With so much at stake, French President Jacques Chirac joined Zapatero for a "yes" rally in Barcelona.
German Chancellor Gerard Schroeder also has been to Spain to offer political support to Zapatero.
Britain, Poland and the Netherlands are among some 10 countries also expected to put the proposed constitution to a popular vote -- which is why the EU governments watched the Spanish referendum so closely.
Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:1481, old post ID:24290