” “"An encouraging sign about the importance that the member states are attaching to the ratification" of the Lisbon Treaty. Hans-Gert Poettering comments the news that arrived last night from Ljubljana and Valletta: the Slovenian and Maltese Parliaments gave their approval of the Treaty, which will be submitted to the EU Parliament at the plenary meeting of 18-21 February in Strasbourg. Poettering highlights that, once the treaty is ratified in all of the 27 member states, Europe will be able to move more effectively and deliver tangible results for the 500 million EU citizens. Instead, the EU Parliament is meeting in Brussels today and tomorrow for the "mini-session" the agenda of which includes the approval of the directive on the deregulation of post services, more investments to create a "European Space of Research" and to "prevent brain drain", and many foreign policy issues, such as the problem of nuclear weapons in Iran and the United States’ establishing a missile defence with installations in Poland and the Czech Republic.” “
