EU agrees Treaty of Lisbon pending signing

The EU can turn to new priorities such as globalisation after agreeing a new reform treaty, its leaders said yesterday, but thoughts were also on the potentially tricky topic of ratification.

“With this accord Europe has emerged from its institutional crisis,” Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates told reporters.

The ‘Treaty of Lisbon’ — which replaces the EU constitution scuppered by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005 — was brokered in the early hours of yesterday after overcoming last-minute Polish and Italian objections.