Does anyone else see a problem with the french and the germand allying togeather in the new EU?
German parliament overwhelmingly approves EU constitution
Thu May 12, 3:07 PM ET
BERLIN (AFP) - Germany's lower house of parliament backed the EU constitution with an overwhelming majority in a move it hoped would persuade French voters to approve the treaty.
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The constitution received 569 votes in favour in the Bundestag, with 23 votes against and two abstentions.
The main German political parties indicated the ratification would be rubber-stamped by the Bundesrat upper house when it votes on May 27, two days before France holds its referendum on the constitution.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he hoped the clear support from his country's parliament would encourage voters in France, where opinion polls showed that the "yes" and "no" camps were neck and neck.
French President Jacques Chirac hailed the German vote.
"With this vote, the German deputies have once again shown their attachment to European integration. It's an important decision with a view to the coming into force of the treaty," said Chirac's spokesman.
The constitution aims to set out a new framework for an enlarged
European Union, which last year opened its doors to 10 members, eight of them former Communist countries.
But it needs to be ratified by all 25 member states to take effect.
Schroeder urged deputies to back the treaty, saying it would give the process of European integration "a new push and a new dynamism".
"We should be cautious and reasonable when using the term 'historic' but the EU constitution deserves this grand title," he said in a speech.
The EU would be "more able to take decisions, more democratic and closer to the people" as a result of the constitution, he added.
Schroeder's Social Democratic Party (SPD), their coalition partner the Greens and the main opposition Christian Democrats all supported the treaty.
Angela Merkel, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), acknowledged there was some concern within her party that the constitution would erode the power of national governments.
"I will say yes with all of my heart, even if I am not happy about everything," she told the Bundestag.
The EU constitution will not be put to a referendum in Germany, as in France.
But a survey carried out for ARD television station and published last weekend found that 59 percent of Germans would vote in favour if a referendum were held, while only 15 percent were opposed.
One of the newer EU members, Slovakia, became the sixth country to complete the ratification process on Wednesday.
The treaty also was approved Wednesday by the Austrian lower house of parliament, and the Austrian upper house was expected to follow suit.
Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania and Slovenia were the other five countries to have fully ratified the constitution.
The people of Spain voted "yes" in a referendum, but the treaty has yet to be approved by the Senate.
Voters in the Netherlands were to have their say in a consultative referendum on June 1, although the result was not binding for the Dutch government.
The parliaments of Germany, Belgium, Estonia and Latvia were expected to ratify the constitution in May.
But all eyes are on France. EU leaders have warned that if one of the founding members of the European project rejected the treaty it could have disastrous consequences for the future of the Union.
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PEACE
 zippoz
"in times of widespread chaos and confusion, it has been the duty of more advanced human beings - artists, scientists, clowns, and philosophers - to create order. In such times as ours however, when there is too much order, too much m management, too much programming and control, it becomes the duty of superior men and women and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relieve the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption"
"People do it every day, they talk to themselves ... they see themselves as they'd like to be, they don't have the courage you have, to just run with it."
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