The parliaments of Lithuania and Latvia on Thursday ratified the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, bringing to 13 the number of member states signed off on the document, according to DPA. In the 141-member Lithuanian parliament, 83 votes were cast for the ratification, five against and 23 abstained. Seventy votes were cast in favour of the ratification in the 100- member Latvian parliament, with three against and one abstention. The treaty has now passed the parliamentary hurdle in 13 EU countries: Denmark, Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta, Romania, France, Lithuania and Latvia. The 27 EU member states are being asked to ratify the treaty by the end of the year ahead of elections to the European Parliament in 2009. Ireland is to hold a referendum on the treaty in June - the only country to do so. The no votes in referendums in France and the Netherlands in mid- 2005 ended attempts to ratify a more ambitious European constitution, leading to the drawing up of the Treaty of Lisbon, which is also known as the Reform Treaty.
