SOFIA (Thomson Financial) - EU newcomer Bulgaria has ratified the European
Union's new reform treaty, aimed at streamlining and revitalising the bloc's
institutions.
A total of 193 deputies out of the 209 present in the 240-seat parliament
approved the ratification at a special ceremonial seating Friday. Sixteen
lawmakers voted against the measure and there were no abstentions.
"The Lisbon Treaty is the finalisation of a very long and hard process that
many feared would fail to reach a successful outcome," Prime Minister Sergey
Stanishev told parliament Friday morning, encouraging it to ratify the pact.
All three parties in Stanishev's government -- the left-wing Bulgarian
Socialist party, the centrist National Movement for Stability and Progress of
former king Simeon Saxe Coburg and the Turkish minority Movement for Rights and
Freedoms -- endorsed the treaty with unanimity.
It was also supported by the right-wing opposition and certain independent
deputies and championed by President Georgy Parvanov.
But the ultra-nationalist party Ataka voted against ratification, with its
firebrand leader Volen Siderov saying the treaty had "weak points."
By creating the posts of EU president and European foreign policy supremo
the pact "creates a new super state in which Bulgaria loses its sovereignty," he
said.
The Lisbon Treaty is meant to streamline the EU's operations, cutting the
size of the European Parliament, limiting the use of national vetoes and
creating a post of president and European foreign policy supremo.
tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com
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