GERMANY: Germany took the first step to ratifying the European Constitution yesterday after MPs in the lower house, the Bundestag, voted overwhelmingly in favour of the constitutional treaty by 569 to 23 votes.
The vote, after a listless debate in the Bundestag, clears the way for a second vote in two weeks' time in the Bundesrat, representing the federal states, which is likely to ratify the treaty.
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said the vote came at an appropriate time, days after ceremonies to mark the end of the second World War in Europe.
"It was in Buchenwald, in Dachau, in Flossenburg and Mauthausen, in the concentration camps and jails, that the necessity of European unity was first discussed, if only in a whisper," he said. "The survivors at that time could never have even thought to dream of a European constitution for the people of the continent, people who live together as peaceful neighbours."
His speech's unusual brevity, just 23 minutes, and his lacklustre delivery gave an indication of the low stakes involved in ratifying the constitutional treaty here.
The German constitution does not provide for referendums. Mr Schröder said the parliamentary vote would "legitimise" the constitution for German voters.
A representative poll last Sunday by ARD public television showed that 59 per cent of Germans support the constitution and would vote Yes in any referendum. Some 15 per cent were against the constitution and 26 per cent were undecided. Seven countries have ratified the constitutional treaty so far, after the Slovakian parliament voted in favour on Wednesday.
All 25 EU member states must ratify the treaty for the constitution to take effect.
The Berlin vote follows a similar vote in Austria's lower house on Wednesday. The upper houses in Vienna and Berlin will vote, and likely ratify, the charter just days before the crunch referendum in France on May 29th. Mr Schröder is hoping the Berlin vote will send a signal to undecided French voters, to whom a large section of yesterday's speech seemed dedicated.
"I ask you not to be too petty or too obsessed with the detail of the odd half-sentence that may not completely meet expectations," said Mr Schröder, calling the constitution the "crowning of the political work of two or three generations".
Angela Merkel, leader of the opposition Christian Democrats, said her party would back the constitution despite "regrets about the lack of a clear reference to Europe's Judaeo-Christian tradition".
"A reference to God would have helped us better define our own identity," she said.