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Friday, May 13, 2005
German parliament's lower house, the Bundestag, passed the European UnionConstitution yesterday, with 569 yes votes, 23 against and 2 abstentions.
Two-thirds majority was required to pass it.
The Constitution still needs to be passed through the Bundesrat, the upper house, before it is officially ratified by Germany.
The overwhelming support did not come as a surprise, since Germany, one of the founders of the pact, is one of the biggest EU supporters amongst all members. The German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, was quoted by Der Spiegel as saying: "Whoever wants more democracy in Europe must vote for the constitution." The Bundesrat is expected to pass the Constitution with similar ease on May 27.
All 25 Union members must ratify the European Constitution before it takes effect.
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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.