Brussels, 07/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - With its Senate voting by an overwhelming majority to ratify the Constitution (217 in favour, 16 against: Lega Nord, Rifondazione Comuniste and three centre-right senators) on 6 April, Italy has completed its parliamentary ratification of the European Constitution. The lower house ratified the Constitution on 26 January by 436 votes in favour, 28 against and 45 abstentions. This makes Italy the fifth Member State to have ratified the European Constitution (after Lithuania, Hungary, Slovenia and Spain, the first country which voted by referendum) and the first of the six founding countries.
On Thursday, the President of the EPP-ED group of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, welcomed the Italian ratification, stating: “With Spain and Italy, two of France's important neighbours have given considerable impetus to a positive vote. I hope that the French voters will welcome this evolution with open arms”.
At the European Commission, spokesperson Françoise Le Bail voiced “the Commission's satisfaction at the vote in Italy (…). This is a particularly important vote as on the one hand, Italy is the first of the founding countries of the European Union to ratify the Constitution, and on the other because the ratification was voted for by a massive majority”. “This seems to us a good omen” for continuing the ratification process, she said.