Britain ratifies beleaguered EU

LONDON (AFP) — Britain has formally ratified the European Union's beleaguered new reform treaty, whose future was plunged into doubt when Irish voters rejected it last month, a spokesman said Thursday.

The final stage in approving the Lisbon Treaty was completed when the "instruments of ratification" were filed in Rome, some four weeks after it was passed by parliament in London.

"The documents were lodged in Rome yesterday," said a Foreign Office spokesman, referring to the official papers, sealed and bound in blue leather, which were handed to the Italian foreign ministry...

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Britain ratifies beleaguered EU

EU Lisbon treaty officially ratified by UK