RIGA, Dec 9 (Reuters) -- Latvian hunters won the right to carry on shooting lynx on Monday when the European Union decided a total ban on hunting the wild cats was not a necessary condition of membership.
      The EU had originally demanded that lynx hunting should be outlawed once the small Baltic state joined the bloc. Latvia is among 10 mostly east European countries which aim to wrap up accession talks at an EU summit in Copenhagen later this week.
      "We have now received oral confirmation that we will get permission to hunt a limited number of lynx," Janis Ozolins, the deputy head of game at Latvia's State Forest Service, told Reuters. "This is good for sentiment towards the EU."
      Latvians do not hunt specifically for lynx -- a shy cat the size of a medium-sized dog -- but hunters shoot them if they come across them in order to protect other game such as deer.
      "Lynx hunting is an ancient practice," Ozolins said. "It is a prized hunting trophy."
      Ozolins added that the deal would allow Latvia to hunt up to 50 lynx a year of a total population of some 650 animals.

      BUDAPEST, Dec 10 (Reuters) -- The European Union is expected to approve its biggest ever enlargement at a summit in Denmark this week, paving the way for 10 candidates to join in mid-2004.
      Next year, the 15 existing EU parliaments will have to ratify the accession treaty, while the mainly-ex-communist central European newcomers will go to the polls in national referendums, seeking a popular mandate to join the EU.
      Public support among candidates for EU entry is widespread and growing, but there are pockets of euroscepticism, and not all referendums will be plain sailing.
      Following is a country-by-country look at likely dates, support and other issues at play in the referendums. The list does not include Cyprus and Malta.
      Two other candidates, Romania and Bulgaria, are not expected to join the enlarged EU until at least 2007. Turkey is waiting to hear when it can formally open membership negotiations.
      HUNGARY:
      Referendum: April 12
      Public opinion: Strong 'Yes' support at 70-75 percent, with opposition at around 11 percent.
      Notes: Non-binding, but Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy insists he have a popular mandate before signing the accession treaty in Athens in late-April.
      SLOVAKIA:
      Referendum: June 7 (final decision by February)
      Public opinion: Support for membership is above 70 percent, with the 'No' camp on just below 15 percent.
      Notes: Mandatory binding referendum, with at least 50 percent turnout. Lower turnout would render the vote invalid, and a new referendum cannot be held for three years.
      CZECH REPUBLIC:
      Referendum: June 15-16
      Public opinion: Support looks to have risen to over 50 percent, with opposition at around 18 percent.
      Notes: Binding vote, but no minimum turnout rule. No repeat referendum for at least two years.
      POLAND:
      Referendum: June, or autumn (to be confirmed early 2003)
      Public opinion: 56 percent likely to vote, 68 percent of whom would back EU entry.
      Notes: Poland is amending referendum rules to ensure EU entry has clear popular support, but the changes may delay the vote and complicate ratification as a two-thirds majority would be needed in both houses of parliament if voter turnout is below 50 percent. No previous post-communist referendum has had 50 percent turnout. Getting it through parliament would need the help of the co-ruling Peasants Party, which has threatened to campaign against membership if farmers get a raw deal.
      SLOVENIA:
      Referendum: First half 2003 (decision later this month)
      Public opinion: 'Yes' camp comfortably above 60 percent, with 'No' vote at around 23 percent.
      Notes: Non-binding referendum.
      ESTONIA:
      Referendum: Sept 14 (Parliament has Dec 18 vote on this)
      Public opinion: Most recent poll shows EU support has jumped to 57 percent, while opposition has dipped to 36 percent.
      Notes: Referendum will be non-binding, with no minimum turnout requirement.No coordinated anti-EU movement, but critical umbrella group could emerge. No contingency plans yet in the event of a 'No' vote.
      LATVIA:
      Referendum: September-November
      Public opinion: 'Yes' vote has risen to over 46 percent, with opposition steady at close to 36 percent.
      Notes: binding referendum, with minimum turnout of at least 50 percent. No anti-EU group, but high potential given strong anti-EU sentiment. Analysts have said a 'No' vote would result in a second referendum to coincide with the next general election, due in 2006.
      LITHUANIA:
      Referendum: May or September (decision not expected until after presidential elections in January)
      Public opinion: 'Yes' camp has grown to around 68 percent, with 'No' vote slipping to 19 percent.
      Notes: Likely to be binding referendum, with simple majority as long as at least 50 percent of voters take part. Opposition comes mainly from small populist parties, and is more issue specific than anti-EU. No bar to holding a second vote in the event of a 'No' win, though wording would likely be revised.

      RIGA, Latvia, Dec. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The Latvian company Datoru Drosibas Tehnologijas (DDT) announces a new, patent pending lossless data compression method, which, according to comparative software library tests, is 10 or more times faster than widely used methods today. The new method can compress 1 Gbit/second of data stream on a modern PC, as a software solution. This method will redefine the usage of data compression -- now data compression can be used in applications or hardware, where it was not possible before.
      Today most widely used high-speed data compression technologies are based on 1970's Lempel-Ziv (LZ) method with various improvements. DDT's all-new method, have more simple data structure and algorithms, therefore it is much faster. Other benefits are lower memory usage, simplicity of hardware implementation and predictability of compression speed. At the same time compression ratios are on the same level with LZ based technologies, or higher. The patent pending method can be used to create a wide variety of data compression algorithms for all kinds of needs and applications, starting with mobile telephones and handheld computers to Internet backbones and hard disc drives.
      The method has already been used in DDT products such as FlyZip XR and FlyZip ZR for Palm OS handheld computers and smart phones. FlyZip XR appeared on the market just five months ago, but has already won the highest scores from international media and users.
      "In the nearest future the lossless data compression will be used more widely. We open new markets and opportunities for high-speed data compression. Like today, hard drive compression is slowing down the system, but it's not true with our method. I can find a lot's of examples in PDA, mobile or network communication segments where compression are needed, but is not used due to a shortages of existing compression technologies," said Andris Grikis, CEO of DDT. DDT new method is realized as C programming language libraries. In the third quarter '03 company will release VHDL library for compression processors or other hardware implementations.
      About the company: DDT is a research and Development Company focused on high-speed data compression technologies. The company is open for partnership relations. Founded in 2000, DDT is a privately held company headquartered in Riga, Latvia. For more information, visit www.FlyZip.com or call +371-7805010.
      SOURCE Datoru Drosibas Tehnologijas
      CONTACT: Andris Grikis of Datoru Drosibas Tehnologijas, +371-7805010, or media@fly-zip.com
      Website: http://www.FlyZip.com

      WARSAW, Dec 11 (Reuters) -- European Union enlargement will be agreed this weekend in a flurry of fights over milk quotas and money that will obscure the historical significance of the bloc's ambitious expansion beyond the old Iron Curtain.
      The EU's Copenhagen summit was meant to seal the deep fissures left in Europe by the Cold War clash of communism and capitalism and reward the flowering of peace, stability and democracy amid the ashes of totalitarianism in the East.
      Instead the hurly-burly of last-minute entry talks risks embittering new members, who feel they are being forced to join on the cheap, and could reduce the impact of Europe's new unity to a mere calculation of financial gains and losses.
      The theatrics of high-stake talks over money for the eight, poor ex-communist states and the islands of Malta and Cyprus were always going to cloud the bigger picture, say diplomats, who predict a deal will be struck in Copenhagen by Saturday.
      But the stress among the current 15 members on an economical enlargement, amid low public enthusiasm for admitting ex-communists, will foster eastern euro-scepticism that may make the 10 newcomers difficult partners once they join in May 2004.
      It may also make it hard for politicians to persuade their ex-communist electorates to back EU entry in referendums to be held throughout next year and stain the enlargement project on which much of the bloc's institutional credibility rests.
      "On both the EU and the candidate side we've lost the historic dimension of this enlargement," says former Polish foreign minister and democracy activist Bronislaw Geremek.
      "We need to get a good agreement on finances but it should not be just a debate on technicalities and between accountants."
      OPPOSING PERSPECTIVES
      While Western Europe regards EU entry as a reward for meeting the rules of a club of trading democracies, East Europe sees itself regaining membership of a cultural and political community that Soviet-imposed communism denied to them.
      That clash between the sense of obligation and the feeling of entitlement explains Eastern scorn at Western insistence it is funding new states generously despite hard times at home. In the East they scent discrimination and second-class treatment.
      Poles, Hungarians, Balts and Czechs refer repeatedly to the pan-European roots of their cultures and their historical elites, lament that Westerners still regard them as alien and consider the European Union as their natural home.
      Czech President Vaclav Havel says he never thought to question if he was European until he was asked. Trying to keep Europe divided, he says, "resembles a belief that one half of a room can be heated and the other unheated at the same time."
      Geremek remembers being dismissed as a hopeless romantic when he went to Brussels to ask for a "European perspective" for Poland in 1981, two months before communists imposed martial law to crush the Solidarity free trade union movement.
      Poland, the largest EU candidate, has never given up hope of a dividend for Solidarity's role in precipitating the fall of communism in 1989, the unification of Germany and the resulting increase in peace and prosperity across Europe.
      That has irritated EU partners who see an attempt to distract attention from Poland's reluctance to make painful legal and social reforms to ready an economy wrecked by 40 years of communism for full Union competition.
      "Poland sometimes left the impression it was trying to get special conditions," says Janusz Reiter of Warsaw's Centre for International Affairs. "It didn't like discussion on details and preferred discussion of the shape of Europe."
      GERMAN ROLE
      Long-time observers say the EU has always been what Reiter calls "a balance between egoism and solidarity" where new states are short-changed when they first join.
      But Easterners say they are shocked at being offered less aid for 75 million citizens than Spain, for example, despite being much poorer than Madrid when it joined the bloc in 1986.
      They lament the lack of vigorous support from German leader Gerhard Schroeder, whose domestic political woes since re-election in September have distracted him from enlargement.
      Berlin has long strongly advocated EU expansion, mindful of the economic opportunities of a new single market to Germany's east and its historic debt for starting World War Two, which was to force eastern Europe into the communist camp.
      But Schroeder's budget problems have left him arguing loudly against improving what the candidates say is just $12.1 billion net in benefits in the first three years of membership.
      Peter Hintze, Europe spokesman of the CDU, Schroeder's political rivals, says Germany has given away the chance to mentor new members Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Malta, Cyprus, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
      The final deal at Copenhagen, where some say Schroeder may bid for glory by pushing through candidate-pleasing concessions, will dictate how newcomers behave once in the EU.
      "Our frustration in Copenhagen could be the founding act of disappointment and euro-sceptical attitudes," says Geremek.

      TALLINN, Dec 11 (Reuters) -- Estonia said on Wednesday it wanted a deal among countries surrounding the Baltic Sea to ban single-hull tankers to prevent a repeat of the Prestige disaster which saw oil slicks devastate Spain's northwestern coast.
      "We want to ban single-hull tankers from the Baltic Sea, especially as it is very narrow and any incident could have very serious environmental consequences," said Kuldar Vaarsi, a spokesman for the Economic Affairs and Communications Ministry.
      "But this has to be a joint action by all the countries in the Baltic region, otherwise it would be of no consequence," he added.
      Large quantities of Russian oil exports are shipped through the Baltic Sea from St Petersburg or ports in the Baltic countries, often in ageing single-hull tankers, like the 26-year-old Prestige.
      Activists from environmental pressure group Greenpeace tried to stop the oil tanker Byzantio from leaving Estonia's Tallinn port last month, fearing a repeat of the Prestige sinking.
      So far this year, 742 tankers have visited Tallinn port, one of the busiest in the region, of which about 25 percent were single-hulled.
      The European Union said last week it would ban single-hulled tankers carrying heavy fuel oil, bitumen, tar and heavy crude oil from entering EU ports and is seeking a ban this week on all such tankers more than 15-years old by 2010.
      The Baltic Sea is surrounded by countries already inside the bloc or aspiring to become members, apart from Russia.
      "We hope that also Russia will realise the potential danger of single-hulled tankers and expect it to take part in this discussion," Vaarsi said.
      Estonia and its Baltic neighbours Latvia and Lithuania are among the 10 mostly east European countries aiming to wrap up accession talks ahead of a December 12-13 EU summit in Copenhagen and be invited to join the bloc on May 1, 2004.

      Copenhagen -- Groucho Marx said he would not wish to join any club that would have him as a member.
      Similar thoughts have been voiced along the rocky path to the biggest expansion in EU history, ushering 10 relatively poor and struggling countries from central, eastern, and southern Europe into what has been widely known until now as a "rich man's club".
      :: The first question is -- Why is everyone bothering?
      Because the fundamental aim of the original six-strong common market was to secure peace and security after the Second World War, and, four rounds of expansion later, this biggest-ever increase in membership will extend that security into parts of eastern Europe that other trade and aid accords cannot reach.
      :: But why lumber the West with lots of poor countries which will only drain resources and be a constant social and financial burden?
      That's very uncharitable. The fact is that when the Berlin Wall came down, bringing the fall of communism with it, it was an incredible opportunity to reunify the greater Europe, and, against the odds, that is what has been done.
      :: Who's joining?
      Cyprus, the Czech republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
      Bulgaria and Romania still have a way to go to implement EU laws, and Turkey is barely off the starting blocks. The Turks have to sort out things like human rights before any EU entry negotiations can even begin, although in Copenhagen they were given a date of December 2004 when EU leaders with review progress.
      :: But isn't the EU club too small for all these countries? Where is everyone going to sit?
      Such flippancy hides a real truth. While the EU's finest minds have spent years getting the newcomers' economies, social and trade policies and just about everything else in line with EU norms, lesser mortals have worried about the size of EU meeting rooms, European Parliament office space and so on.
      :: Have you any idea how long a "normal" EU ministerial meeting is going to take when this lot join?
      No. Will you tell me?
      :: Okay. Well, you currently have ministers from 15 countries meeting to thrash out EU polices on everything from widgets to workers' rights and they can take all day just making their national pitch. So add another 10 ministers, especially from countries which have, shall we say, more of a history of lengthy declaratory rhetoric than short sharp bullet-point making and it could take ... ages. Then you've got more Euro-MPs, about 4,000 more European Commission officials, larger national delegations, and so on and so forth.
      :: What is this enlargement costing?
      A difficult one, although the official cash figure is 26 billion. But the non-financial gains - political and economic stability, security, and so on, far outweigh the cash price. One MEP says the actual cost is 67 billion to the current 15 member states, but if that sounds a lot, remember that is one-tenth of what Germany spent on its own reunification after the Berlin Wall came down.
      One study says the economic gain to the current 15 member states will be about
      6 billion and about 15 billion for the newcomers.
      :: These newcomers will want to run the EU show from time to time I suppose?
      Exactly. So the whole way the bureaucracy works is having to be changed. Out go the six-monthly rotating EU presidencies, in which one of the member states runs the agenda for half a year, and in comes ... well, it hasn't been decided yet.
      The Brits want a permanent presidency to oversee the work of EU governments and others want more power for the European Commission, but you don't want to know all this.
      :: Correct.

      COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -- The European Union has thrown open its doors to 10 mostly former communist East European countries, ending years of tortuous negotiations and redefining the continent's boundaries.
      Even as EU leaders agreed to the largest expansion in the bloc's 45-year history, further radical upheaval lay over the horizon, with mainly Muslim Turkey promising that it would be ready to start formal entry talks by 2004.
      The decision to add 10 new members to the present 15 came at the end of an intense two-day summit and means that the EU's population will grow by 20 percent to 450 million people, creating an economic colossus to rival the United States.
      "Europe is spreading its wings in freedom, in prosperity and in peace. This is a truly proud moment for the European Union," Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the summit host, said in an emotional final speech on Friday.
      The Big Bang is scheduled for May 2004, giving the newcomers little over a year to secure public backing for their EU entry in a series of referendums and ready their economies for the shock of hooking up to the wealthy western powerhouse.
      Friday's deal ended months of haggling over terms, with Poland, the biggest and most demanding candidate, battling until the last minute to win a slightly improved financial package.
      Champagne flowed to celebrate the accord, but Turkey did not share the general delight, having failed to get a fixed date for kicking off its membership talks, despite energetic lobbying by President Bush on its behalf.
      Instead, Ankara was told that the long-awaited talks could start only if it was deemed to have met the bloc's strict standards on human rights and democracy by the end of 2004.
      After an initial frisson of anger, Turkish leaders said they would plough ahead with their reform program and would be ready for negotiations within two years.
      WAXING LYRICAL
      The countries that were invited to join in May 2004 were Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Cyprus and Malta. A summit draft statement backed Bulgaria and Romania's aim of entry in 2007.
      Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller, who irked many EU member states by his uncompromising brinkmanship, waxed lyrical when the deal was finally done.
      "Poland has made a great historic step forward. We shake off the burden of Yalta," he said, referring to the 1945 division of Europe into Soviet and Western spheres of influence after World War II. "Our tough negotiations until the end have worked."
      EU leaders made minor concessions, but managed to keep the overall cost of paying for the expansion to some 40.8 billion euros -- less than was originally budgeted back in 1999.
      The United States welcomed the landmark accord.
      "...the European Union's decision further unites the new and the established democracies of Europe, and advances the creation of a Europe whole, free, and at peace," said a statement issued by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
      There were also warm plaudits for the way Denmark, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, handled the negotiations.
      "It was stunning in terms of determination, intelligence and finesse," said French President Jacques Chirac.
      Diplomats suffered one setback at the summit, failing in their bid to bring Turkish and Greek Cypriots together around a U.N.-brokered peace plan aimed at ending the 27-year division of the Mediterranean island.
      The EU agreed to admit just the internationally recognized Greek-Cypriot part of the island in 2004 if necessary, but talks will continue to seek a political settlement next year.
      Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, veteran leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot statelet which only Turkey recognizes, told reporters in Ankara: "The European Union's interest is to delay Turkey and to take Cyprus, to possess Cyprus and to build something like a Christian fortress around Turkey."

      CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) -- Sandis Prusis of Latvia on Sunday posted his first-ever four-man World Cup victory by beating Olympic champion Andre Lange in the third stage of the World Cup bobsled competition in this north Italian resort.
      Prusis, teaming with Marcis Rullis, Janis Silarajs and Janis Ozols, had runs of 53.10 and 53.03 for a winning combined time of one minute, 46.08 seconds.
      Germany One of 2002 Olympic champion Lange was slower than Prusis in both runs and ended in 1:46.61.
      Lange, who had won the first two four-man races of this season, consolidated his lead in the World Cup standings, piling up 97 points.
      Prusis, whose previous World Cup win in a two-man race dated back to the mid 90s, moved to second place with 91 points.
      Germany's Rene Spies, winner of the two-man World Cup race here Saturday, finished third in the four-man, in 1:46.65, and held third place overall with 81 points.
      Other top finishers Sunday included Switzerland Two led by Ralph Ruegg (4th), Switzerland One of Martin Annen (5th) and U.S.A. One driven by Todd Hays (6th).
      The Canadian team of Jayson Krause finished 15th, in 1:47.98.
      The World Cup competition continues in La Plagne, France, Dec. 20-21.

      COPENHAGEN, Dec 15 (Reuters) -- The European Union secured a milestone deal on eastward enlargement only after lengthy, behind-the-scenes haggling with 10 candidate countries at their two-day summit in Copenhagen.
      Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the summit host, shuttled between the two camps trying to forge a compromise that satisfied his EU partners wish to save money and the candidates need for a deal they could sell at home.
      Here is a reconstruction of the final hours of negotiations that cleared the way for the 10 leading applicants to join the bloc on May 1, 2004, and offered Turkey the hope of opening membership talks in two years time.
      MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
      Having won the approval of his 14 EU partners for the final enlargement package on Thursday night, Rasmussen holds bilateral meetings with the leaders of the 10 applicants early on Friday.
      Towards midday, Rasmussen meets individually with each of the four candidates still unhappy with their terms -- Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia.
      "For the Poles and the Czechs, in particular, it is crucial to get a larger cashflow into the budget," a source close to the Danish presidency said. "And we know that if we can close a deal with Poland then we can also close with the others."
      Denmarks EU ambassador drafts a proposal for Rasmussen to present to the EU leaders at lunch, which includes letting them convert some long-term aid earmarked for poor regions into cash up-front to ease the initial expense of accession.
      This "cashflow mechanism" will help the candidates while costing the EU only a little extra which can be recouped later.
      The proposal also provides for additional cash to resolve minor outstanding issues. "This is the sweetener," the source said. Denmark estimates that 200 million euros is enough.
      At lunch, EU leaders welcome the proposal. But German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose own budget is under strain from an economic slowdown, insists the cashflow mechanism should apply only to Poland.
      In compensation, the EU leaders endorse 300 million euros in new money for the other nine candidates, up from 200 million. The extra 100 million will be shared between Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Malta.
      The Danes then set up a new round of meetings with the 10 candidates, to last just 10 minutes each. "This is take-it-or-leave-it time for the candidates," the source said.
      POLAND STANDS FIRM
      The first six -- Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia -- quickly accept the deal and close negotiations.
      "But the negotiations with Poland are intense and tough. The first round lasts around an hour," the source said.
      During this hour, Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller and Rasmussen have two face-to-face sessions without aides.
      "Miller's main problem is his government risks collapse. He is fighting to save the coalition," the source said.
      Poland says the billion euros is not enough since it is due to receive that money anyway. It asks for more time to consider.
      Slovenia folds quickly. Then comes Hungary, which is ready, but has certain reservations.
      "They are basically placing themselves in the slipstream behind Poland and the Czechs, waiting to see what happens in the other negotiations," the source said.
      The Czechs say they want the same deal as the Poles.
      Rasmussen goes back to EU leaders seeking a new mandate which would allow him to tweak the quota of milk which Polish farmers will be allowed to produce under EU limits.
      He is also authorised to grant a modest increase to both the Poles and Czechs in the cashflow aid.
      Poland, relieved at the improvement for its powerful farm lobby, says yes. The Czechs follow suit, leaving Rasmussen to resolve several enlargement-related concerns among the EU member states, including the issue of Alpine road transit in Austria.
      Rasmussen hails a final deal and invites the candidates for champagne. The leaders of Bulgaria and Romania -- which aim to join the EU in 2007 -- and Turkey then join the party.
      TURKISH DELIGHT
      As enlargement bargaining drags on, the EU is dancing a separate minuet with Turkey.
      On Thursday night, EU leaders agreed to review its progress on human rights and democracy in December 2004 with a view to opening accession talks.
      Turkish resentment turns to satisfaction when the EU adds the words "without delay" to the pledge to start negotiations once it passes the test.
      This concession, along with a declaration committing the EU 15 and the 10 acceding states to continue the enlargement process, leads Ankara to finally accept arrangements for NATO to assist the EUs embryonic military crisis management force.
      Turkey also agrees to press the Turkish Cypriots to stay in U.N.-mediated negotiations with Greek Cypriots aimed at winning a peace settlement that would allow Cyprus to join the EU in 2004 as a reunited island.

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- Latvia's president prompted legislators to make Russian Orthodox Christmas an official holiday, a move that could help mend relations with the ex-Soviet republic's large Russian population.
      President Vaira Vike-Freiberga is the first prominent political figure to suggest Russian Orthodox Christmas, celebrated Jan. 7, become a state holiday.
      She suggested it Thursday in an interview with the Russian-language newspaper Chas.
      "She believes it would show respect to a big part of Latvia's population," her spokeswoman, Aiva Rozenberga, said Friday.
      About 40 percent of this Baltic Sea coast nation's population of 2.5 million are ethnic Russians who adhere to the Russian Orthodox faith. Most immigrated to Latvia after World War II when the Soviet Union controlled the country. Since declaring independence in 1991, many ethnic Russians have complained of discrimination.
      Most Latvians are Lutheran -- as is Vike-Freiberga -- or Roman Catholic.
      Many ethnic Russians take Jan. 7 off from work to attend Christmas services at the several onion-domed Russian Orthodox churches that dot Latvia.
      Latvia's 100-member Saeima parliament would have to approve legislation making the day an official holiday.