Romanian diplomacy hails ratification by Bundesrat of Romania and Bulgaria’s EU Accession Treaty

The Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) hails “with particular satisfaction” the unanimous ratification, on November 24, 2006, by the Bundesrat – the German Parliament’s upper house – of the Treaty for Romania and Bulgaria’s Accession to the European Union.
The vote cast on Friday in the Bundesrat marks the end of parliamentary procedures whereby Germany was to ratify the Treaty for Romania and Bulgaria’s Accession. The bill on the ratification of the Accession Treaty had previously cleared the lower house of the German Parliament, the Bundestag, on October 26, 2006.
According to MAE, the law on the ratification of the Accession Treaty will come in force once the President of Germany promulgates; Germany thus becomes the 25th EU member state to ratify the Treaty. The vote cast on Friday by the German lawmakers also marks the completion of the ratification process by the EU member states, so that the Accession Treaty should come in force on January 1, 2007.
MAE thanks the German authorities for their sustained and constructive support during the Treaty’s ratification procedure. The close of parliamentary ratification procedures in Germany, sends – just short before this country takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union on January 1, 2007 – an important signal of support for Romania’s EU accession, in compliance with the established schedule.
“As a matter of fact, Germany’s taking over the presidency of the European Union will coincide with Romania’s joining the Union, so that Germany’s term as president is the first during which Romania will act as full-right Union member state,” concludes MAE. ROMPRES