European Union | 19.10.2007

Hard Bargaining Leads to Success at EU Treaty Summit in Lisbon

EU leaders clinched a final deal late Thursday, Oct. 18, on a major overhaul of the 27-member bloc after making key concessions to Italy and Poland. The new Lisbon Treaty is now expected to be signed in December.

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The agreement on the reform treaty, reached by prime ministers and heads of state after hours of wrangling in Lisbon, should put an end to a prolonged institutional debate sparked by voters in France and the Netherlands, who in 2005 referendums rejected a European constitution.

"This is a victory for Europe. We are getting out of a blind alley. We no longer have an institutional crisis," said Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, who as holder of the EU rotating presidency was acting as the meeting's host.

The treaty is designed to streamline the EU's decision-making process following its "big bang" expansion of 2004, which welcomed 10 new member states into the 50-year-old organization.