Frans parlement beslist vandaag over ratificatie uitbreiding EU (en)

The French Parliament, (L'Assemblée Nationale) is due today, (25 November) to vote on legislation allowing for the ratification of the accession treaties for the ten new EU member states.

France is the third EU country to ratify the enlargement, after Denmark and Germany.

The future member states have all ratified the enlargement by referenda, except for Cyprus where a parliamentary ratification was issued.

The four political parties represented in L'Assemblée Nationale - The Socialists, the government party Union pour une majorité présidentiele (UMP), L'Union Démocratique Française (UDF) and the communists - all spoke in favour of the ratification.

EU not ready to enlarge

Only the left wing of the Socialist Party - Nouveau parti socialiste (NPS) - indicated that it would abstain during the vote. For these MPs, the EU is not yet ready to enlarge, as its institutions have not been sufficiently reformed.

This was criticised by the leaders of the socialists who disapproved the behaviour of NPS. Speaking on French radio Europe 1, the Socialist leader François Hollande said that he would have liked a "coherent" attitude in the party regarding the enlargement.

The President of the Committee for Foreign Affairs in the French Parliament, Eduard Balladur (UMP) is expected to bring the subject up for discussion in the presence of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin.

Turkey's chances for EU integration will also be discussed as the right wing parties expect the government to give some clarification upon the subject.

They fear a strong reaction of the far right once this subject becomes more dominant during the European elections next year.