Brussels, 20/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 19 May, the Belgian House of Representatives approved the European Constitution by 118 votes to 18 (Vlaams Belang far-right members) and one abstention (from an environmentalist), after the Senate. To be ratified, the Constitution must also be approved by the five Belgian regional and community assemblies. During the debate on Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said he fully approved of the Constitution which makes the EU “more democratic, more effective and more transparent”, and which is the result of a “balance laboriously struck between large and small States, between old and new members, between those who support a more Community approach and those who are in favour of a more intergovernmental approach”. To say no would be to make things go downhill, he said, asserting that “we see the referendums organised in France and the Netherlands in an optimistic light”.