Brussels, 10/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 9 April, the Austrian Parliament voted by a large majority of 151 to 27 to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. The parties of the grand coalition in power (SPÖ/ÖVP) and the Greens voted for the text which is due to come into force on 1 January 2009, but the two far right parties (FPÖ and BZÖ) voted against. The far right and left wing organisations had brought several thousand demonstrators onto the streets of Vienna in the previous days in the vain hope of securing a referendum on the issue. A petition calling for a referendum on the treaty was signed by over 100,000 people, according to its promoters. Austria now becomes the eighth member state to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, after Hungary, France, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta and Poland. (H.B.)