July 11 (Reuters) - Belgium has completed its approval of
the European Union's Lisbon reform treaty as the parliament of
the country's Flemish region cleared the document, rejected by
Irish voters last month.
Sixteen EU members have completed the ratification process
and several more are close. The treaty needs the backing of all
27 member states to come into force.
Following is a breakdown:
PROCESS COMPLETE:
* AUSTRIA - Parliament authorised ratification on April 9.
* BULGARIA - Parliament ratified on March 21.
* DENMARK - Parliament ratified on April 24.
* ESTONIA - Parliament approved the treaty on June 11 and
president signed on June 19.
* FRANCE - Lower house of parliament ratified on Feb. 7.
* GERMANY - Upper house of parliament voted to ratify the
treaty on May 23.
* HUNGARY - Became the first of the 27 EU countries to
ratify the treaty in a parliamentary vote on Dec. 17, 2007.
* IRELAND - Irish voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty in a
referendum on June 12 with 53.4 percent voting against and 46.6
percent voting for. Ireland was the only member that put the
pact to the public in a referendum.
* LATVIA - Approved treaty on May 8.
* LITHUANIA - Approved treaty on May 8.
* LUXEMBOURG - Parliament ratified the treaty on May 29.
* MALTA - Parliament unanimously ratified treaty on Jan. 29.
* PORTUGAL - Parliament voted to ratify treaty on April 23.
* ROMANIA - Parliament ratified the treaty on Feb. 4.
* SLOVAKIA - Parliament approved the treaty on April 10
after an opposition party dropped a threat to derail the
process.
* SLOVENIA - EU president Slovenia's parliament ratified the
bloc's reform treaty on Jan. 29.
* UNITED KINGDOM - The Lisbon treaty passed through the
House of Lords on June 18 after members of the upper chamber
rejected moves by opposition Conservative Party peers to halt
the ratification process because of the Irish "No" vote.
OTHERS YET TO RATIFY:
* BELGIUM - The last of seven Belgian parliamentary
assemblies under its federal system has approved the treaty. In
a process which is likely to be just a formality, the bill has
to be promulgated before King Albert signs it into law.
* CZECH REPUBLIC - The upper house referred the treaty to
the country's top court in April to rule if it was in line with
the constitution, delaying ratification by parliament until late
2008.
* FINLAND - Parliament approved the treaty on June 11 by 151
votes for and 27 against. The process will be completed when
President Tarja Halonen signs it into law.
* NETHERLANDS - Lawmakers in the uppper house passed the
measure on July 8, just over a month after the lower house
approved the treaty. Queen Beatrix and the Dutch justice and
foreign affairs ministries must now sign the treaty in the final
step of the ratification process.
* POLAND - Both chambers of parliament approved the treaty
in April. However, President Lech Kaczynski has yet to sign the
treaty in the final part of the ratification process. Kaczynski
told French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week his country will
not block ratification.
* SPAIN - Congress have approved the treaty June 26 and it
will go to the Senate. Completion of the process will be a
formality.
* CYPRUS, GREECE, ITALY and SWEDEN also have yet to ratify.
