Slovaks vote to join the EU

Citizens of the Czech Republic's eastern neighbour Slovakia have voted in favour of joining the European Union. Just over 52 percent of eligible voters took part in the plebiscite on Friday and Saturday, 2 percent more than the minimum turn-out required to validate the results. On Sunday the referendum commission said it recognised the outcome as valid. Of those who took part in voting an overwhelming majority, 92.46 percent voted in favour of joining the EU, with 6.2 voting against. After the results were announced the head of Slovak parliament Pavol Hrusovsky stated that the "future" of his country had "acquired a new dimension". On Sunday Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla was among those to offer congratulations. The Czech Republic faces its own referendum on EU accession in just under a month.