Denmark will not hold a referendum on the new European Union reform treaty but will ratify the charter in parliament, Danish media reported, citing government sources.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is due to announce later in the day which option his centre-right coalition has chosen. A majority in parliament supports the charter.

The news agency Ritzau said all the central government sources it had talked to had said Rasmussen would announce that Denmark would not hold a referendum on the issue. The daily Jyllands-Posten carried a similar report.

The reform treaty, agreed by EU leaders in October, replaces a new constitution for the bloc which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, triggering an EU institutional crisis. On Monday the leading opposition party, the Social Democrats, said they would support parliamentary ratification of the treaty.

EU leaders will sign the new charter in Lisbon on Dec. 13. A Danish government review said last week that Denmark did not need a referendum to ratify the pact as it did not transfer sovereignty from Copenhagen to Brussels.

Despite the review, the government could still be forced to hold a referendum if a significant minority in parliament demands one, though political analysts consider this unlikely.