PARIS — President Barack Obama’s decision to seek Congressional authorization for a military strike on Syria has sparked calls for the French parliament to get the same privilege.
The French constitution doesn’t require such a vote unless and until a French military intervention lasts longer than four months, as recently happened in Mali.
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 Sunday that parliament should vote on the issue, telling the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, “In the current circumstances, France cannot go to war without the clear support of parliament.”
France’s parliament is scheduled to debate the issue Wednesday, but no vote is scheduled.
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