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Estonian lawmakers Tuesday ratified the European Union's draft constitution, a document whose approval has largely stalled elsewhere on the continent after French and Dutch voters rejected it.

The charter, which aims to strengthen Europe's influence on the world stage by creating the post of an EU foreign minister, easily won approval from lawmakers in Estonia, one of the 10 countries that joined the bloc in 2004.

Estonia is the 15th of the 25 EU members to approve the document, which is unlikely to come into force anytime soon.

Many EU members put ratification plans on hold after French and Dutch voters rejected the draft last year, a setback that reflected unease over the bloc's course, in particular the fast pace of EU expansion and efforts to more closely integrate the continent's economy and foreign policy.

The charter would streamline decision making in the 25-nation bloc. It would also affect the way Europe acts on international matters by creating the positions of an EU president and foreign minister.

Estonia's two Baltic neighbors and fellow former Soviet republics, Latvia and Lithuania, have also ratified the draft.

Estonian lawmakers voted 73-1 to approve the document, a result that was widely expected. Prime Minister Andrus Ansip called Estonia's ratification a "significant step" and said the vote reflected his country's "desire to participate in the process of shaping" EU's future.

The EU's executive office, the European Commission, plans to propose reconsideration of the draft in 2007.

EU may delay entry decision

The European Union may postpone its decision by several months on whether Bulgaria and Romania join the bloc in 2007 or 2008 to press the two states to enact more reforms, an EU source said Tuesday.

The European Commission, the EU's executive, will publish reports on May 16 assessing how close the two Balkan countries are to being ready to join. The reports are expected to recommend whether their entry should be delayed by a year.

"One option under consideration is to give either Bulgaria or Romania, or both, some more time to prepare themselves better before a recommendation is made," said a Commission official, who asked not to be identified.

The Commission's enlargement spokeswoman, Krisztina Nagy, declined to speculate on what the executive would recommend. "No decision has been made. The jury is still out," she said.

(China Daily May 10, 2006)