KIEV, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian parliament passed on Thursday a resolution stipulating that the membership issue will be decided in a nationwide referendum.

    A total of 248 deputies out of 423 registered in the assembly hall voted for the resolution.

    Parliament Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk opened Thursday the parliamentary session after weeks of paralyzing.

    "We have overcome one of the longest crises in the history of the Ukrainian parliament," Yatsenyuk told lawmakers.

    The opposition lawmakers, who are against joining NATO, agreed to return to work after leaders of all parliamentary fractions signed a protocol of understanding.

    President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Parliament Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk sent a letter to NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in January, expressing their hope that Ukraine could join the NATO membership action plan at a NATO summit scheduled for early April in Bucharest, Romania.

    Since then, the opposition, which is calling on Ukrainian leaders to reverse the decision to request further NATO integration, has been blocking parliamentary work.