Lisbon: Leaders of the 27-nation European Union (EU) today signed a landmark treaty to revitalise decision-making after years of wrangling on how much power they are willing to hand over.

"History will remember this day as a day in which new paths of hope were opened toward the European deal," Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates told the ceremony.

He insisted the treaty - which replaces a planned EU constitution scuppered by French and Dutch referendums in 200 - is not a threat to the national sovereignty of member states.

The Treaty of Lisbon was only agreed after long and often acrimonious negotiations between supporters and opponents of closer integration however. And the changes are likely to face new eurosceptic opposition when they are discussed in national parliaments that have to ratify the treaty. Ireland has to hold a referendum.

EU leaders, who move on to a summit in Brussels on Friday, deem it vital to streamline the functioning of the bloc, which has grown from 15 to 27 nations since 2004 while pushing deep into the former Soviet bloc.

Like the rejected constitution, it proposes a European foreign policy supremo and a permanent president to replace the cumbersome six-month rotating presidency system.

It cuts the size of the European Parliament and the number of EU decisions which require unanimous support, hence reducing national vetoes. However, it drops all references to an EU flag or anthem, to assuage eurosceptic fears of another step towards a federal Europe.

Source : PTI