10/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - Jacques Barrot, Vice-president of the European Commission and responsible for transport, has said that he is in favour of “a swift parliamentary ratification of a working treaty that includes the basis of the institutional reforms that had already obtained consensus in the draft Constitution”. According to the French newspaper, Le Progrès, during a visit last week to Saint-Etienne Mr Barrot described the proposal as “realistic”. Barrot explained that they had to move fast before the 2009 European elections by “extending the vote by majority voting because it is essential, as voting by unanimity is paralysing the European Union”. In the meantime, the UDF candidate in the French presidential elections, François Bayrou repeated on Tuesday that if he is elected, he would submit the future new EU treaty to a referendum in France. Bayrou wants the treaty to be “short, readable and understandable to everyone”, which only deals with “one subject, which has to be governed by a fundamental law: how decisions are made and what are the rights of citizens”. (hb)