[JURIST] The Flemish Parliament [official website, in Flemish] approved the new EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive] Friday, finalizing Belgian approval of the document, also known as the Treaty of Lisbon [official website; PDF text]. Jose Manuel Barroso [official profile], the president of the European Commission [official website], congratulated Belgium on its approval of the treaty in a statement [text, PDF] released Friday. According to Barroso's statement, twenty-two European countries have now approved the agreement, which had already received approval from the national government and all other Belgian regions except for Flanders. Reuters has more. FlandersNews has local coverage.

Some EU countries have delayed ratifying the treaty after Irish voters rejected it [JURIST reports] in June. The future of the pact is currently in doubt as it must be approved by all 27 EU states in order to take effect. EU leaders signed the reform treaty [JURIST report] last December, and 14 countries had ratified the document [JURIST news archive] before the Irish rejection. In 2005, an earlier draft European constitution [JURIST news archive] also failed when voters in France and the Netherlands [JURIST reports] rejected the proposal in national referenda.