The German government has opened discussions on the bill for ratification of the EU Accession Treaty of Bulgaria and Romania thus commencing the due procedure.
Germany is among the last EU member states to make steps towards completing this key procedure without which it will be impossible for the country to become a full-fledged member of the bloc, as anticipated on 1 January 2007.
Germany's law envisions that the ratification bill enters, in the first place, the Upper Chamber, the Bundesrat, and then the Lower Chamber, the Bundestag.
First public debates in the Lower Chamber are scheduled for May 19 - three days after the European Commission is to release its Monitoring Report on Bulgaria's preparedness to join next January.
As part of the coalition agreement in Germany, the ruling parties will come up to the final vote of the Treaty's ratification only after the EC evaluation in May.
Seventeen out of twenty-five EU member states have so far completed the ratification procedure of Bulgaria and Romania's accord with the EU.