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The
Constitutional Treaty (version of 29.10.04) was approved at the European
Council in Brussels on the 18th of June 2004 and signed in Rome on the
29th of October 2004 by the 25 Member States of the European Union. The
candidate countries Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania only signed the Final Act.
Croatia participated as an observer nation because it had not participated
in the works of the Convention. Member States will now have to ratify
the Constitution in accordance with the modalities of their national legislations.
In the ratification of the European Constitution by open referenda, citizen's
opinion will have a greater importance than ever before.
The constitutional treaty opened a period of ratification to be finished
by October 2006. To date, 18 member states have already ratified the Treaty,
either by parliamentary procedures or by referendum, 2 countries have
expressed their rejection and the remaining member states either have
their process on hold or they still have not decide the ratification procedure.
(Bulgaria and Romania which entered the EU in January 2007 already ratified
the constitution before accession.) After
the rejection of the text by French and Dutch citizens, member states
agreed on convoking a Reflection Period.
See below for the ratification process in each member state. The EU
Observer* site is a good source of information on latest developments.
For more information about the Treaty in detail, please see our section
The Constitution in detail
and the Bibliography.
| Bulgaria
On 11.05.05 the Bulgarian Parliament approved the Constitution.
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Czech Republic
Ratification will be subject to a referendum. (postponed)
more
information about the ratification process in the Czech Republic
Denmark
Ratification will be subject to a referendum. (postponed)
more
information about the ratification process in Denmark
Ireland
Ratification will be subject to a referendum. (postponed)
more
information about the ratification process in Ireland
Poland
Ratification will be subject to a referendum. (postponed)
more
information about the ratification process in Poland
Portugal
Ratification will be subject to a referendum. (postponed)
more
information about the ratification process in Portugal
| Rumania
Both Chambers ratified the Constitution on 17 May 2005.
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| Spain
Ratification was subject to a non-binding referendum on 20 February
2005, where Spanish people voted in favour of the Constitution.
(Yes 76.73% - No 17.24% - Turnout 42.32%)
The Spanish
Parliament ratified the Constitution on 28.04.2005. (Yes 311 votes
- No 19 votes)
The Spanish
Senate ratified the Constitution on 18.05.2005. (Yes 225 votes -
No 6 votes)
more
information about the ratification process in Spain
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Sweden
Ratification will be considered by Parliament (Riksday). No referendum
to be held.
more
information about the ratification process in Sweden
United Kingdom
Plans to organise a
referendum were suspended.
more
information about the ratification process in the United Kingdom
Notes:
*To access the archive
of EUobserver.com, you need to buy credits, for further instructions see
the EUobserver website.
Some information regarding
the national debates have been drawn from the Studies EU-25
Watch I realized by the Institut für Europäische Politik
in co-operation with the Trans European Policy Studies Association and
the Centre International de Formation Européenne published in December
2004, and EU-25
Watch II edited by the Institut für Europäische Politik
and published in January 2006.
The constitutional
conditions in the Member States have been drawn mainly from a Study
made by democracy international.
** Germany's
president said on 15.06.2005 he would not complete ratification of the
treaty it until a court ruled on whether the treaty conforms with Germany's
constitution.
*** The Slovak constitutional
court has asked the President not to sign off on the ratification of the
European constitution, until judges decide if there should have been a
referendum on the new charter.
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