Czech Lower House Approves EU`s Lisbon Treaty

The lower house voted 125 to 61 to adopt the document.

The lower house of the Czech parliament approved the European Union's Lisbon treaty on Wednesday, a key but not final step toward ratification in the central European country.

The lower house voted 125 to 61 to adopt the document which aims to reform the EU's institutions to make it more flexible after the bloc's expansion in the past years.

The treaty must still be ratified in the upper house, the Senate, where it may sit for weeks or even months as many right-wing Senators demand that the country first ratifies a plan to host a U.S. missile defence shield base.