European leaders have overcome months of disagreement and signed a document to replace the European Constitution.
Photo: AP, AP
|
 |
EU Signs Landmark Treaty
27 European leaders signed a reform treaty in Lisbon on Friday to make it the main law for the European Union. The breakthrough was reached one week before a Russia-EU summit. The European Union has shown it is ready to work out a common stance on sensitive issues with Moscow.
European leaders adopted the Reform Treaty in a unanimous vote. The treaty is designed to replace the European Constitution which was rejected in votes in France and the Netherlands in 2005. The document does not mention the much-debated EU anthem and flag.
The new treaty signed aims to speed up decision-making in the EU. It also creates a new president of the European Council with two and a half year term and a new EU foreign policy chief. The agreement will be formally signed on December 13 and will come into effect in 2009 if it is ratified by parliaments of all member states.
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates who chairs the summit for the EU presidency, said: “With this treaty, Europe is showing that the European project is on the move – now we can look forward to the future with confidence.”
The document, called the Lisbon treaty, was signed after objections from Italy and Poland were overcome. Italy gained an extra seat in the European Parliament to gain parity with the UK. Bulgaria won the right to call the EU single currency the “evro” rather than euro.
Poland also secured a guarantee that small groups of countries would be able to delay EU decisions. “Basically Poland got what it wanted,” Polish President Lech Kaczynski said.
On Thursday Poland and Lithuania called on the EU to work out a common position to protect European energy system from aggressive expansion of Russia. “We must finally decide whether we use the same language to speak with Russia or the EU is just a paper tiger,” Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates gave a response for the statement on the following day: “The European Union is coming stronger to meet Russia.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 20, 2007
|
|
|
