Ratification

The Swedish Parliament voted for ratification of the Lisbon Treaty the other night, after a long debate. The Treaty has to be ratified by all 27 member states of the European Union to take effect, but Ireland has said no after a referendum. Since one coutry's no is enough to make the Treaty fail, and one country has said no, I do not really know why the Swedish Parliament even bothered voting on the Treaty.

The Lisbon Treaty itself is obsolete, as far as I can understand (except that there is a rumour that the Irish government may hold a new referendum). However, there may be other political values behind this vote in favour of the Treaty. Sweden is not a member of the common currency, perhaps this vote went though Parliament to show other EU member states that Sweden do care about the EU and is a team player in the development of the Union. There may be further analyses of the vote in the news in the days to come, I may return to this topic in my blog if I have anything more to say about it.