Brussels, 24/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - Portugal and Denmark have become the 9th and 10th member states to have fully completed the Lisbon Treaty ratification procedure (after Hungary, Malta, Slovenia, France, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Slovakia). On 23 April, the Portuguese parliament obtained an overwhelming majority to approve the text (three parties on the Left voted against and called for a referendum because they considered the treaty encroached on the country's sovereignty). On Thursday 24 April in Germany, the Bundestag voted by a large majority (515 votes for, 58 against, with one abstention) in favour of the treaty. The Bundesrat vote (regional house of representatives) is expected on 23 May. A poll published on Thursday in the Czech Republic revealed that more than half (53%) of citizens think that their parliament should approve the new treaty.
In the meantime, former president of France, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who led the work at the Convention on the Future of Europe, appealed for the new permanent president of the European Council to be appointed by the leaders of the EU27 after the June 2009 elections. In the Belgian daily, Le Soir, on 24 April, he affirmed that “we should initially work to provide a framework for making this appointment (of the president of the European Council). This could be done before the European elections next year. The Council could then choose the best candidate three months later”. Giscard d'Estaing explained that two kinds of candidates are possible: either an experienced person who would “set up the system, set out the rules and environment, a bit like George Washington in his first mandate”; or a “operational president”, who would facilitate the system and provide the necessary impetus. Giscard d'Estaing said that “in this category we could consider Angela Merkel. It is Merkel who has been at the origin of the main European compromises of last year”. (H.B)