European Union lawmakers voted massively in favour Wednesday of the EU's proposed constitution, which will be submitted to a series of make-or-break referendums from next month in the 25-nation bloc. In a symbolic ballot, 500 deputies in the Strasbourg-based European Parliament voted in favour of the historic treaty, 137 against and 40 abstained. The EU's Luxembourg presidency welcomed the vote, and urged national parliaments and EU citizens to also support it in the ratification process, which is expected to take the best part of two years.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who took over the EU's reins on January 1 for six months, said the constitution was "an important step on the path of a unified Europe".
"It is an important step ... towards the ratification of this constitution, ratification of which I would like to invite national parliaments and people" to support, he said.
Before the vote, a small minority of eurosceptic MEPs held aloft placards declaring their opposition to the constitution with the slogan "Not in my name".
But Juncker retorted, to loud applause: "I'm saying this in my name, and in the name of the overwhelming majority of Europeans."
The constitution - which aims to prevent institutional paralysis after the EU's expansion last year from 15 to 25 members, with more waiting in line - needs to be ratified in every member state before it can take effect.
It notably foresees a two-and-a-half-year EU presidency term to replace the current six-month rotating system, while streamlining the executive commission and creating a new post of EU foreign minister.
The parliaments of Hungary and Lithuania, which were both among the 10 mostly ex-Soviet states that joined the EU last year, have already ratified the treaty.
The battle to ratify the constitution faces its first public hurdle next month when Spaniards vote on February 20, in the first of a dozen or so EU referendums.
While Spain is expected to give its green light, EU leaders are bracing for a number of far more difficult popular votes down the line.
France is to hold a vote before the summer, and while polls indicate some 57 percent of French are in favour, President Jacques Chirac is worried the issue may be clouded by anger at a decision to start EU entry talks with Turkey.
But among the toughest hurdles will be the referendum promised by Prime Minister Tony Blair, expected to be held next year in notoriously eurosceptic Britain.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned last month that Britain would be "weak and marginalised" within Europe if it fails to ratify the EU constitution.
"It is the patriotic choice to go for the EU constitution," he said, adding in a speech: "If we approve this constitution, we will be making our kind of Europe, a Europe in which Britain is strong."