Germany backs EU charter
 |  The German parliament approval of the constitution was deliberately timed ahead of the French vote. |
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BERLIN, Germany -- Germany has become the ninth country to ratify the EU constitution when the upper house of parliament voted in favor of the treaty.
In Friday's vote -- timed to give the flagging "Yes" campaign a boost ahead of Sunday's referendum in France -- Germany followed Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain in approving the text.
The Bundesrat vote, a formality given the support for the constitution from the main German political parties, followed approval in the lower house on May 12.
Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the architect of the charter, was in the Bundesrat to witness the vote.
He made a last minute appeal to French voters to back the constitution, although opinion polls suggest that it will be rejected in the referendum.
On Thursday in France, President Jacques Chirac said the futures of France and Europe were at stake and warned the nation in a televized broadcast not to be tempted to turn Sunday's referendum into a plebiscite on his unpopular government.
The treaty is intended to make decision-making simpler in the bloc following its enlargement to 25 member states last year.
Treaty opponents say it enshrines economic policies that have failed to stop the loss of jobs to low-wage economies, including countries outside the European Union such as China.
They want a renegotiated treaty that takes better account of social concerns.
