Lawmakers in new EU member state Latvia on Thursday ratified the EU constitution despite the treaty's resounding defeat by French and Dutch voters, giving an overwhelming thumbs-up to a text they said would pay dividends to their Baltic state.

A day after voters in the Netherlands rejected the constitutional treaty, with a massive 61.6 percent voting 'no' in a referendum, 71 deputies in the 100-seat Latvian parliament ratified the EU basic law.

It also came four days after 55 percent of voters in France voted down the text in their own referendum.

"Both the French and Dutch referendums were influenced by fear," Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks said after Latvia's 'ja'.

"We are free of fear. The constitution will give us more opportunities. With our 'yes' vote, we want to say to the rest of the European Union, 'You can learn from us'," the Latvian foreign minister said.

Janis Lagzdins, a member of the conservative Peoples Party, told AFP he had voted 'ja'.

"It was my symbolic support to the new and modern EU," which the Baltic state joined last year, he said.

"I dont think the Baltic states were the main fears for the French and Dutch. Their vote was against further enlargement of the EU, against Turkey as a possible member," he said.

Political scientist Toms Rostoks said the fear and anger voiced by Dutch and French voters in recent days were proof the EU has to do some soul-searching.

"Wide discussions on the vision of Europe are needed now: will it be more liberal, democratic? How far can the EU go in the enlargement process? These are fundamental issues the EU will have to seriously tackle in the nearest future," Rostoks told AFP.

Analysts have said the Netherlands' "no" vote was a warning that the Dutch are unhappy with the fast pace of enlargement of the EU, and disillusioned with politics in general.

French "no" campaigners built on fears that globalisation and an enlarged EU threatened jobs, and on concerns that Brussels wants to get rid of France's generous but expensive, state-supported welfare system.

Twenty-eight-year-old civil servant Gunda said the searing French rejection was driven by an idealised vision of socialism.

"Western Europe and France in particular have a romantic perception about socialism. But they never experienced the reality of it in the Soviet Union. Thats why they so easily rejected the constitution," she said.

A year after it joined the EU, and nearly 15 years after it regained independence from the Soviet Union, Latvia has moved resolutely away from the centralised social model.

Latvia now has one of the most robust economies in Europe, with gross domestic product rising by 8.1 percent last year and expected to grow 6.7 percent in 2005, according to a World Bank report.

Five votes were cast against the constitution, all from the opposition Socialist party.

"I felt I understood the gripes of the French and Dutch public," said Olegs Denisovs, one of the handful of no-voters.

"I couldnt vote for the constitution because Latvian ruling parties ignore public opinion. The government works too closely with the US and doesnt listen to Europe and to what our people really want," he said.

The parliaments of Austria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia have ratified the constitution. Spain's parliament also ratified the treaty after Spanish voters overwhelmingly endorsed in a referendum.

The countries that have voted "yes" represent 223 million EU citizens, or nearly half the 25-member bloc's total population of around 457 million.

"Im happy about todays vote," said 54-year-old Inta.

"When we started on our way towards the EU, I said to myself: 'If Latvia does not manage to get into the union, I will go to Europe by foot.'

"Never again do I want to have a miserable existence in an area under Russias influence," Inta, who is currently unemployed, told AFP.