(BRATISLAVA) - Slovakia's parliament Thursday ratified the EU's Lisbon Treaty, ending several months of deadlock over the agreement aimed at reshaping the functioning of the 27-nation bloc.

The treaty was ratified by 103 votes to five thanks to the support of a handful of opposition lawmakers. The vote was followed by a round of applause and the Slovak and EU anthems.

"I wish that this day and the names of the people who fought for this freedom (in Europe) remain marked in the history of Slovakia forever," the speaker of the parliament Pavol Paska said following the vote.

"With this document, the EU will be closer to Slovak citizens," the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said.

The opposition Hungarian Coalition Party announced a breakthrough in the treaty deadlock when its leaders said in the morning it would vote in favour of the treaty "to protect Slovakia's good name abroad."

The party had previously lined up alongside other opposition parties in refusing to vote for the treaty in protest at a new media law eventually passed on Wednesday.

The two other opposition parties left the chamber before the vote. Several Christian Democrat lawmakers sang the national anthem in protest before leaving. The party is the only one which has opposed the treaty itself.

Fico's left-dominated three-way coalition, which has a clear majority in the 150-seat parliament, needed a handful of opposition votes to reach the 90 votes required for ratification.

The media law was criticised by the local media as well as the Organisation for Service and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for limiting press freedom.

Slovakia, which plans to adopt the euro at the start of 2009, is the ninth country to ratify the treaty, following in the path of Hungary, Slovenia, Malta, Romania, France, Bulgaria, Poland and Austria.

The Lisbon Treaty, which replaces a draft constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, must be ratified by all 27 members before it can come into effect by the planned target date of 2009.

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