EU leaders agree new treaty deal

EU leaders agree new treaty deal


EU leaders have reached a deal on a landmark treaty to reform the 27-member bloc, according to Portugal, which holds the rotating presidency.


The deal in Lisbon was sealed after last-minute changes sought by Austria, Bulgaria, Italy and Poland were agreed.

The treaty is designed to replace the European Constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

It includes plans for an EU foreign policy chief, a longer-term president and fewer national veto rights.

The treaty will be formally signed by European leaders in Lisbon on 13 December.

If ratified by all 27 member states, the treaty will come into force in 2009.


'Great achievement'

In the last-minute negotiations, Italy gained an extra seat in the future European Parliament, returning it to parity with the UK and restoring Italian national pride, the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Lisbon says.

Poland got guarantees that a small group of countries would be able to delay EU decisions they do not like - a victory for the Polish government just days before Sunday's early parliamentary election, our correspondent adds.

Austria also reached a deal over its bid to maintain quotas for foreign students, with the European Commission agreeing to suspend for five years its legal action over Austria's quota.

Bulgaria meanwhile won the right to call the EU single currency the "evro", rather than euro, in its Cyrillic alphabet.

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, who chaired the summit, said Europe had emerged from an "institutional crisis".

"With this treaty, Europe is showing that the European project is on the move. Now we can look forward to the future with confidence," he added.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the treaty was a "great achievement".