Sweden's parliament unanimously ratified Bulgaria and Romania's EU Accession Treaty on May 9, celebrated as Europe Day.
Choosing to ratify the two countries' EU accord on May 9, Europe Day, was no accident, Sweden's government says, as they found this to be the best date to back the Union's enlargement.
Members of all parliamentarily represented parties made statements, stressing the importance of EU enlargement. All of them expressed hope that Bulgaria and Romania will accede to the EU as scheduled on January 1, 2007.
The ratification procedure in Sweden will be finalized after the chair of Sweden's parliament, the Riksdag, sends the decision for ratification to the prime minister of the country.
Sofia hopes the notification of the ratification in all 25 member states will be completed by 31 December 2006. Otherwise the accession treaty will not enter into force and it will have to be renegotiated.