French parliament ratifies EU treaty

The French parliament ratified a European Union reform treaty to overhaul the bloc's institutions on Friday, nearly three years after France rejected a planned EU constitution in a referendum.

The treaty, which must win approval by all 27 EU countries to take effect, will give the bloc a long-term president, a more powerful foreign policy chief, more democratic decision-making and more say for European and national parliaments.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso both welcomed the vote.

"The ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon by France sets the seal on our country's return to the heart of Europe, a few months before the beginning of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union," Fillon said in a statement.

Speaking in Brussels, Barroso said, "In being among the first member states to adopt the Lisbon treaty, France confirms its commitment to be at the forefront of Europe.". France is the fifth EU country after Hungary, Malta, Romania and Slovenia to ratify the so-called Treaty of Lisbon, a replacement for the constitution. Only Ireland will hold a referendum on the treaty, as required by its own constitution.

Barroso said he hoped Slovakia, where a vote on the treaty looks set to be delayed by at least several weeks due to internal political squabbles, would ratify the document too.

"There is a broad support for the treaty. The main political forces in Slovakia very much support it," he added.

The Slovak opposition has been obstructing a parliamentary vote on the treaty to pressure leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico to change an unrelated draft media law.

Most Slovak opposition parties support the treaty, but the vote is one of the few levers they have to exert influence on the government which otherwise easily controls parliament.

The EU constitution was torpedoed in 2005 when French and Dutch voters rejected it in referendums.

Barroso also brushed aside suggestions by British Euro-sceptics that the treaty must be ratified by a national referendum rather than by parliament. Prime Minister Gordon Brown argues the Lisbon treaty is much less far-reaching than the constitution and does not need to be put to a popular vote.

"Suggesting that the parliament has no legitimacy for the ratification of the treaty, for me, is undemocratic. The parliament is the centre of democracy," Barroso said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose conservative UMP party has comfortable majorities in both parliamentary chambers, has been an advocate of the treaty and signed it with other EU leaders in December.

The treaty drops contentious symbols hinting at possible EU statehood such as the flag and anthem, which were among elements voters disliked in 2005.

France's National Assembly voted 336 to 52 in favour of the treaty and the Senate approved it by 265 votes to 42.

Many opposition Socialists voted for the treaty but the party has been divided on how to reform the EU institutions since some of its most prominent members campaigned against the planned EU constitution in 2005.