Austria's parliament nodded Wednesday evening the Treaty of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union, media reported.

All four parties in the Austrian parliament backed Bulgaria's EU entry. With this move Austria became the fifteenth EU member state to ratify Bulgaria's accord.

Sofia is hoping that all 25 member states will ratify its EU accession treaty before the European Commission monitoring report in the spring of 2006, fearing a delay in its accession due to a delay in the ratifications.

If the notification of the ratification in all member states is not completed by 31 December 2006, the accession treaty will not enter into force and it will have to be renegotiated.

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