Following its approval by the lower house National Assembly on February 21, the Senate voted to approve the two treaties that will lead to the replacement of the temporary European Financial Stability Facility with the ESM.

The upper house approved the treaties in a vote of 169 to 35, with lawmakers from President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing UMP and centrists backing the bill, the opposition Socialists abstaining and Communists voting against.

The permanent 500-billion-euro ($657-billion) ESM, finalised last month, aims to prevent the eurozone debt crisis spreading throughout the 17-nation eurozone when it begins operating in July.

A financial firewall against any repeat of the sovereign debt crisis, there are still issues that need to be resolved about the fund, including its ultimate size.