The Lisbon Treaty is "a substantial improvement on the current treaties". For this reason, the report drawn up by the MEPs Richard Corbett (Great Britain) and Inigo Méndez de Vigo (Spain), submitted this morning, asked the EU Parliament to approve the Treaty, officially signed last December and now being ratified. A long debate was held in Strasbourg about this subject, with speeches from many EU executives and MEPs. The two speakers insisted on the importance of the new Treaty, which "enables the EU institutions to work", gives more powers to the EU Assembly and will enable the Union to "pursue effective results for its population". The text exhorts the member states to ratify it "before the end of the year" and to inform their citizens of its contents, in the run-up to the European election of 2009. Several speeches placed emphasis on the "missed opportunity" of forgoing the Constitution, which has been replaced by this Reform Treaty, which is however a "respectable compromise", enabling "the EU to start up again". (continued)
