France ratifies EU fiscal pact

(PARIS) - France on Thursday ratified an EU fiscal pact that requires countries with high debt to keep their structural deficits below 0.5 percent of gross domestic product to overcome the eurozone crisis.

A total of 306 Senators voted for the pact and 32 against. The treaty had been passed overwhelmingly in the National Assembly on Tuesday despite opposition from critics who saw it as enforced belt-tightening by Brussels.

With the Senate vote, France became the 13th European Union country to ratify the pact and the ninth member of the eurozone.

Signed in March, the pact must be approved by 12 of 17 eurozone members to take effect at the start of next year.

Socialist President Francois Hollande's cabinet had already backed the text, which many on the French left had said they would oppose.

But in a major boost for Hollande's credentials both at home and abroad, the vote sailed through on Tuesday with a majority of the left voting in favour, and prompting the French leader to hail a "united" stand.

The contentious EU treaty was put to debate in the National Assembly a week ago with Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault saying France would not be sacrificing its "sovereignty" by ratifying the text.

"The treaty itself imposes no constraints on public spending," he said. "Fiscal sovereignty will remain with parliament."

Before the debate, politicians ranging from far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon to Marine Le Pen, who heads the far right, had voiced their opposition and called for a referendum.