The Lisbon Treaty ratified by all member states!

[Martinus]

Czech leader signs Lisbon Treaty
Czech President Vaclav Klaus has signed the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, the final step in its ratification.

The Czech Republic was the only EU country not to have approved the treaty, which was drawn up to streamline decision-making in the EU.

Mr Klaus signed the treaty shortly after the Czech constitutional court rejected a complaint against it.

Among its measures, the treaty creates a European Council president and alters the way member states vote.

The treaty could now come into force as early as December.

The treaty's supporters say it will allow the EU to operate more efficiently and give it greater influence in world affairs. Critics say it will cede too many national powers to Brussels.

LISBON TREATY
Creates new post of EU president (President of European Council)
New post of high representative for foreign affairs
More decisions by majority vote rather than unanimity
Ratified by all member states except Czech Republic
Only Irish Republic held referendum on it - twice ('Yes' vote second time)
Took a decade of negotiations
Was intended to take effect in January 2009
Britain's Conservative Party, which has opposed the treaty, said it would announce its response on Wednesday.

A BBC correspondent says Mr Klaus accused the court of bias and said the Czech Republic was no longer sovereign.

The Eurosceptic Czech leader had recently said he would no longer attempt to block the treaty, after receiving the promise of an opt-out from the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Mr Klaus said the opt-out was needed to avoid property claims from ethnic Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II.

The Lisbon Treaty replaced an earlier draft constitution, which was rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

It would create the post of a new European Council president who would serve a term of two-and-a-half years.

It also provides for a new foreign policy chief, combining the posts of the existing foreign affairs representative and the external affairs commissioner.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said earlier that he hoped the EU could move "as quickly as possible" to make appointments to the new posts.

[DGuller]

How is a majority determined?  By simpled country count, or weighted by populations?

[Martinus]

How is a majority determined?  By simpled country count, or weighted by populations?

It's the mix of the two. Essentially each country has a number of votes, which is related to its size/population but is not truly proportional. Sorta like with the US and congressmen from individual states.

[Grey Fox]

Long Live President Blair!

[Martinus]

The votes in the Council are:

29 votes: France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom,
27 votes: Spain and Poland,
14 votes: Romania,
13 votes: The Netherlands,
12 votes: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, and Portugal,
10 votes: Austria, Bulgaria, and Sweden,
7 votes: Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, and Slovakia,
4 votes: Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Slovenia,
3 votes: Malta.

[PDH]

Forecast for the immediate future: Be on the lookout for new waves of Euro-sanctimony, 80% chance of cross Atlantic stupidity.

[DGuller]

Psst, a word of advice: when some countries start talking about secession, you should immediately crush the traitors outright (or ask Americans to do it for you).  Trust me, in the long run, it'll be better that way.

[MadImmortalMan]

Good for you, Europe. Might have had something...simpler. This is better than nothing.

[The Larch]

Good for you, Europe. Might have had something...simpler. This is better than nothing.

Since when are big international treaties simple?

[Faeelin]

What happened to the Tories' pledging to have a referendum?

[Martinus]

What happened to the Tories' pledging to have a referendum?

Kinda hard to have a retroactive referendum on a treaty already in force.

[Caliga]

Great.  So could you please conquer Russia now?

[Martinus]

Great.  So could you please conquer Russia now?

Why would we want to do that?

[Faeelin]

What happened to the Tories' pledging to have a referendum?

Kinda hard to have a retroactive referendum on a treaty already in force.

So there's no way to withdraw? Interesting.

[Caliga]

Why would we want to do that?

Russia's a menace, that's why.  A menace 2 society.