26/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - Members of the Spanish parliament approved the Lisbon Treaty on Thursday 26 June by 322 votes in favour, 6 against and two abstentions. In order to be fully ratified, the treaty must still be approved by the senate. The senators' vote was initially scheduled for the next parliamentary session, at the end of September or beginning of October, but the opposition leader, Mariano Rajoy (PP) proposed to the government of José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Wednesday that the process should be stepped up so that the treaty is approved by the senate in July. The proposal was accepted by Mr Zapatero, which should make Spain the 20th member state to achieve ratification, the head of the EPP-ED Group of the European Parliament Joseph Daul announced. In the meantime, in the UK, where the treaty was ratified on 18 June (EUROPE 9686), the British courts definitively ruled out the possibility of a referendum when they rejected the appeal by billionaire eurosceptic Stuart Wheeler on 25 June, who had contested the decision made by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to ratify the treaty through the parliament. (H.B.)