[JURIST] The National Council of the Slovak Republic [official website] voted 103-5 Thursday to ratify the EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive], formally known as the Treaty of Lisbon [official website; PDF text]. Previous attempts to vote on the treaty had ended in walkouts by opposition MPs in protest over a domestic media reform law endorsed by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, but one of the opposition parties ended its boycott Thursday allowing for ratification of the EU treaty. Slovakia's ratification of the EU treaty follows that of Poland [JURIST report], which approved the treaty early last week.

Leaders from the 27 countries that make up the European Union signed the reform treaty [JURIST report] in December, but all member countries must ratify the document before it can take effect. Nine countries, including Bulgaria, France, Hungary, and Slovenia [JURIST reports] have ratified the reform treaty so far. BBC News has more. EUbusiness.com has additional coverage.