Franse socialisten steunen Europees Hervormingsverdrag (en)
The French socialist party has decided to vote in favour of the EU i Lisbon treaty when it is submitted for parliamentary ratification at the beginning of next year, its leader Francois Hollande has announced.
"This treaty has at least one merit - it is to allow Europe to get out of the impasse. That is why we have approved it", Mr Hollande said after a party bureau vote on Tuesday (6 November) evening.
The French socialists had previously said they may abstain from voting on the Lisbon treaty disagreeing both with the text itself as well as with the method chosen for ratification. Most socialists would prefer to submit the document to a referendum.
Laurent Fabius, one of the opponents of the failed EU constitution in 2005, recently qualified not having a referendum as "a denial of democracy".
Tuesday's party bureau decision - by 36 votes in favour of the new treaty, 20 against and two abstentions - leaves the socialists with a common position although some still disagree with it.
French MEP Benoit Hamon, national secretary of the socialists' "European project" - an internal party working group - stepped down from his position shortly afterwards.
Mr Hamon, who had advocated an abstention or refusal to vote, said he would follow the party's decision, but regretted it.
The party had been strongly divided during the debates on the EU constitution two years ago and wanted to put forward a common stand this time.
Meanwhile, those opposing the text of the treaty and favouring a referendum as a means of ratification have started using the internet as a platform, Le Monde reports.
The goal of the initiators - which include both politicians and ordinary citizens - is to gather one million signatures, but the approach is far from unified.
Several websites are being used so far, including the increasingly popular Facebook where groups against the treaty outnumber those favouring it, according to Le Monde.
Blogs of socialist opponents to the treaty such as Laurent Fabius, Jean-Luc Melenchon and Henri Emmanueli, are also feeding the internet debate.