France will not hold a referendum on the EU treaty, it was announced today by the country's Secretary of State for European Affairs.

Jean-Pierre Jouyet confirmed that the treaty would instead be ratified by the French Parliament early next year, after making necessary reforms to the French Constitution in accordance with the treaty.

This would make France one of the first member states to ratify the treaty. Poland is also expected to move quickly to ratify the treaty.

This is despite a recent poll in France indicating that the majority of the public would prefer to have a vote on the treaty rather than see it undergo parliamentary ratification.

Over half of respondents said that they would abstain or leave their voting papers blank if there was a referendum, but of the remaining people, over two-thirds said they would vote in favour of the treaty.

Jouyet added that the treaty was just a foundation for the European Union and that it now had to press on with "serious issues".

French president Nicolas Sarkozy will next week address the European Parliament in Strasbourg on France’s position.

Meanwhile, the House of Lords European Union Committee today announced that it was undertaking an in-depth inquiry into the impact of the EU Reform Treaty on the EU and in particular the United Kingdom. 

The inquiry will be conducted by the EU Select Committee and all seven of its Sub-Committees, with each exploring the Reform Treaty’s effects in their area of expertise. 

The EU Committee aims to provide a rigorous and detailed analysis of the changes made by the Treaty and how they would affect the EU and the UK, to inform the Parliament’s debates on its ratification.

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