The European Affairs Minister Gergana Grancharova and Parliament Chair Georgi Pirinski held a special meeting on Tuesday at which the recently signed Treaty of Lisbon was presented for ratification.

Earlier the same day, Minister Grancharova opened a conference at the Sofia Sheraton Hotel attended by politicians and experts at which the EU institutional reform, and the role of the European Parliament and of national parliaments were discussed.

The Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community is the first of the founding and reform EU treaties that was signed by Bulgarian head of state and that is to be ratified by Bulgaria after its accession to the organization on January 1, 2007.

The Lisbon Treaty, also known as the Reform treaty came as a compromise amending the existing treaties rather than replacing them after the so called Constitutional Treaty was rejected in referenda in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

Its ratification in Bulgaria is expected to go smoothly. Bulgaria's neighbour to the north Romania became on Tuesday the fourth country to ratify the Treaty.

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