European Parliament strongly endorses Constitution
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of the EU Constitution in a non-binding but politically symbolic vote.
On Wednesday morning (12 January), 500 MEPs voted in favour, 137 voted against and 40 abstained.
"The result of the vote makes it very clear. I think that the extent of the support is very important", said Parliament president Josep Borrell.
During a plenary debate on Tuesday, MEPs urged governments to strongly support the 460-article treaty, which streamlines EU decision-making and gives more power to the European Parliament,
Before and after Wednesday's vote, several MEPs, held up placards saying "not in my name" and "this Constitution is Europe's death".
Mr Borrell, who struggled to get the protestors to take down their placards, later remarked that no one could call the European Parliament boring any more.
The protestors booed loudly after the strong result came in. Those voting no or abstaining came from the far-right, the left, the eurosceptic ID group, the UK conservatives and the Czech ODS party.
Source: EU Observer
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