Photo from UNIAN
The National Council, or Nationalrat, the lower chamber of the Austrian Parliament, has ratified the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, according to Ukrainian Ambassador to Austria Olexander Scherba.
"Austria! Ratified!" he tweeted on Wednesday.
The parliamentary majority's factions voted for the document, while the Freedom Party of Austria and Team Stronach for Austria, which has parliamentary faction status, voted against. "Now [it should be followed by] the Federal President's signature," the ambassador wrote.
Scherba explained that the document was ratified by the Austrian parliament's lower chamber today. "On July 23, there will be Bundesrat [the Federal Council, the Austrian's upper chamber]. There won't be any suspense there. The major event has happened today," he added.
Before the Association Agreement was ratified by the National Council, it had been presented by Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expects that all EU member states will ratify the Association Agreement by the end of 2015.