EU leaders agree on new treaty

European Union leaders yesterday agreed on a new treaty that will change the way the EU works in the future.

In typical EU style, leaders were kept confined by the presidency until the early hours of yesterday morning, horse trading last-minute demands by member states, particularly Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and Austria.

Champagne started flowing at 2 a.m. when the current President of the EU, Portuguese Prime Minister José Socrates announced that all member states were satisfied and that a final deal was struck.

Speaking to the media soon after the pact was agreed to, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said Malta also got what it wanted.

"We came here with the intention of making sure that Malta gets another seat at the European Parliament as from the next European elections in mid-2009. We are now certain this is what will happen," a satisfied-looking Prime Minister told Maltese journalists. The final EU compromise included various concessions EU diplomats thought would be almost impossible to achieve just a few hours earlier.

Italy, which was not happy with the new seating allocation agreed upon by the European Parliament last week, got an additional MEP, despite the sealing of 750 deputies established by the EU Council last June. The solution was to remove the voting rights of the European Parliament President. Italy will now have the same number of MEPs as Britain.

Poland, which was insisting on a mechanism to be able to delay the implementation of certain laws it does not like, was granted this concession.

Bulgaria reached a deal allowing it to spell the single currency in Cyrillic as evro rather than euro.

Austria was assured that moves to limit the number of foreigners attending its universities would not be pursued in the European Court.

Asked by The Times for his thoughts on whether, in this scenario, Malta could have asked for more, Dr Gonzi replied with a grin that the deal among the 27 could only be reached through compromise.

"This is not a question on who got what," he said. "The most important thing is that the EU showed it is capable of moving forward. There are no winners and losers in this deal. Overall, the EU has won."

The deal on the new treaty brings to an end a six-year process starting with the idea of having a first EU Constitution, discarded later following the negative reaction from France and the Netherlands during referenda held in 2005 to ratify the proposed Constitution.

Mr Socrates hailed his counterparts for the new deal calling it a new beginning for the EU.

"With this accord, Europe has emerged from its institutional crisis. This is a victory for Europe. We are getting out of a blind alley," he said in the final press conference.

European Commission president José Manuel Barroso said the new treaty gave the European Union the capacity to act in the 21st century. "This is a historic agreement. Now Europe can defend its interests in the age of globalisation."

The new treaty - The Lisbon Treaty - will now be signed during an official ceremony to be held in Lisbon on December 13. The 27 EU member states will then kick-start the process of ratification which has to be completed by the beginning of 2009 so that the new treaty will enter into force in time of the European Parliament elections scheduled for mid-2009.

Malta is expected to ratify the treaty through a parliamentary resolution. Dr Gonzi said a decision on the timing of ratification will be taken following the signing of the treaty.