DHAKA: US president Barack Obama’s decision to seek congressional authorisation for a military strike on Syria has sparked calls for the French Parliament to get the same privilege.

The French Constitution does not require such a vote unless and until a French military intervention lasts longer than four months, as recently happened in Mali.

French president Francois Hollande has backed Obama’s call to punish Syria’s government for a deadly chemical weapons attack on August 21.

Francois Fillon, France’s ex-prime minister and leading figure in the opposition UMP party, said on Sunday that Parliament should vote on the issue, telling the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, reports The Straits Times:

‘In the current circumstances, France cannot go to war without the clear support of parliament.’

BDST: 1758 HRS, SEPT 01, 2013
RoR/SRS