French lawmakers approve controversial bill on surveillance

French lawmakers on Tuesday approved overwhelmingly a controversial bill that grants expanded surveillance power for the intelligence service of the European country.

The French National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, passed the bill by 438 votes to 86, which won broad support from main parties and drew opposition from only the far-left and greens.

The bill, aiming to "protect French from terrorist attacks", would give French intelligence authorities green light to collect unlimited electronic data from the Internet and phones and to install cameras and spying softwares.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls welcomed the bill, saying it "preserves our fundamental liberties, but supervises our intelligence services while giving them the means as efficient as possible to face terrorist threats."

Valls told French news channel BFMTV that the bill would also help fight against serious crimes, economic espionage and terrorism.

The bill, to be examined by the Senate in June before being officially legalized, has raised concerns about "mass surveillance" among the French public. Endi