France prides itself on being a driving force for European integration, yet it will be the last of 15 EU countries to ratify the June 1997 Amsterdam Treaty, writes Lara Marlowe.
The final hurdle to ratification was passed yesterday when a joint session of the French National Assembly and Senate - together known as the Parliament - met in the Palace of Versailles to modify the French constitution.
In France's 10th constitutional revision since the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958, small changes in articles 88-2 and 88-4 transferred responsibility for freedom of movement to Brussels, and enabled the French parliament to vote on resolutions concerning European foreign and security policy. The parliament will ratify the treaty in March.