Flemish lawmakers approved Wednesday the draft EU constitution, in a vote which lifts the last obstacle to Belgium's ratification of the beleaguered European charter, officials said.

Belgium's ratification will make it the 14th EU country to back the constitution, which was left in tatters by "no" votes in referendums in France and the Netherlands last year.

The parliament of Flanders, the northern region of the federal country, voted by 84 votes in favour, 29 against and one abstention for the constitution, which was almost killed by French and Dutch "no" votes last year.

The ratification still has to be formally approved by the Flemish government, the only part of Belgium's federal structure which has not yet backed the charter for the currently 25-nation European Union.

The constitution has to be ratified by all 25 EU member states to come into force.

EU leaders last June agreed to have a "period of reflection" after the double referendum blow, but realistically few people foresee any breakthrough before next year, after elections in France and the Netherlands.

Supporters of the constitution warn that the EU, expected to expand to 27 members in the next couple of years, will be unable to function without the new decision-making rules it enshrines.

In contrast to some other countries there is little real opposition to the constitution in Belgium, which is the seat of the key EU institutions including the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council.

British EU lawmaker Andrew Duff, a constitutional expert who served on the convention which drew up the EU charter, welcomed the Flemish "yes" vote.

"This completes the Belgian ratification process, and shows that Belgium keeps faith with its European destiny despite the problems encountered by the Constitution in France, the Netherlands and elsewhere," he said.

"Now the constitution has been ratified by 14 member states representing a majority of the citizens of the Union."

Duff said that, whatever happens, the constitution will have to be renegotiated.

"We need to improve the text ... to strengthen the economic governance of the Union ... to reform Europe's social model, to up-grade the fight against climate change and to meet public fears about the definition of the Union's boundary," he said.

As well as the Flemish parliament, six assemblies have had to back the charter in Belgium: the federal parliament and senate, the parliament of the French-speaking Wallonia region, that of the French Community, the parliament of the German-speaking community and the parliament of the Brussels region.

A parliament official said that the Flemish government's formal adoption is likely to take "some time," but is merely a formality.