Brussels, 12/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday the Irish went to the polling booths to vote on the Lisbon Treaty. Polling stations won't close until 10.00pm (local time). As we went to press, no election forecast was possible, given that no exit poll had been planned. Counting up the vote will not begin to until Friday morning 13 June, and the official result will not be announced until the beginning of the afternoon. The last election poll, published last weekend, demonstrated that the “no” campaign had 39% of the vote, although the “yes” campaign was slightly ahead with 42% (EUROPE 9678). On Wednesday, Prime Minister Brian Cowen appealed to his fellow citizens to support the treaty and stated that Europe had been a good thing for Ireland and that there was nothing to fear from this treaty.
On Wednesday 11 June, the Greek parliament ratified the Lisbon Treaty by 250 votes for and 42 against. During the debate at parliament, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis explained that the new treaty was a “realistic route towards the Europe of the 21st century, a trajectory towards a beautiful future, solidarity, stability and common progress for all people, a path that serves the interests of both the Europeans and the Greeks”. Greece is the 18th country to close parliamentary ratification procedure of the treaty. (H.B./transl.rh)