(LISBON) - Portugal's national assembly will vote to ratify the European Union's Treaty of Lisbon on April 23, a parliamentary group announced Tuesday.

The vote is expected to be a formality, with Prime Minister Jose Socrates's Socialist Party holding an absolute majority and the right-leaning Social Democrats also having endorsed the text signed in December 2007 in the Portuguese capital.

Socrates ruled out a referendum on the treaty in January, with only Ireland among the bloc's 27 members being constitutionally obliged to put acceptance to a public poll. Bulgaria became the sixth member to green light the treaty on March 21.

The treaty will streamline the EU's operations by cutting the size of the European Parliament, limiting the use of national vetoes and creating a post of more permanent president and European foreign policy supremo. It was negotiated while Portugal held the EU's rotating presidency.

It replaces the EU constitution that was rejected by referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

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