Berlin, September 23: President Horst Koehler has signed the documents needed for German ratification of the EU’s Lisbon reform treaty, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
Ratification is now only a technicality, said the spokesman, adding the documents would be published in Germany’s official law register on Thursday. After that, the president has to sign the ratification certificate.
Apart from Germany, only three countries — the Czech Republic, Ireland and Poland — in the 27-member bloc have still to approve the treaty, which is designed to streamline EU decision-making.
Ireland holds a second referendum on the treaty on Oct. 2 after voters rejected it last year.
Although opinion polls suggest Irish voters will approve the treaty, a significant proportion of the electorate is undecided and the government’s deep unpopularity could generate a large protest vote.
Eurosceptic presidents in Prague and Warsaw are expected to back the treaty if Ireland approves it.
Germany’s lower and upper houses of parliament approved changes to domestic legislation on the treaty after the top court demanded tweaks to make it comply with the constitution.
The changes oblige the German government to inform parliament “thoroughly and as early as possible” about EU business and spell out parliament’s right to express an official view on any EU matter the government discusses in Brussels.
—Agencies