Belgium's senate ratified Bulgaria and Romania's EU accession treaty, with 52 of the senators present supporting the treaty and only 8 were against, all from the Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang (VB), Sofia News Agency reports.

With Lithuania that also ratified the treaty on Thursday, the number of countries supporting Bulgaria and Romania's EU accession has risen to 16.

Belgian senator Francois Roelants du Vivier presented the treaty for voting, expressing his belief that both countries were able to overcome the final obstacles and become full-flagged EU members on January 1, 2007.

His colleague Karim Van Overmeire, one of the senators that voted against, said that Bulgaria had indeed undertaken very strict measured in criticized areas and as a whole answers EU criteria.

Romania on the other hand, still had serious problems with corruption, he said.

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