1.   The two leaders also approved treaties to cut stockpiles of chemical weapons.

2.   The Bundesrat approved the treaty on the following day.

3.   After Ireland and Luxembourg, Greece thus became the third member country to approve the treaty.

4.   In October the US Senate had voted overwhelmingly to approve the treaty.

5.   The president has the power to make treaties but the constitution says only, only if those treaties are approved by two thirds of the senate.

6.   Approving the treaty would speed creation of a stronger worldwide monitoring system.

7.   Approving the treaty would allow the United States to participate on a UN panel that reviews how nations who signed the convention are implementing it.

8.   As chairman of the foreign relations committee, Biden would become the pivotal foreign policy voice in the Senate, which has the sole authority to approve treaties.

9.   After all, Thiessen said, the old Duma did not approve the treaty either.

10.   But even if the treaty is approved, expansion could be stalled if there is a change in the ideological balance of power in Europe.