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"The breakthrough to a stability union has been achieved"
- Angela Merkel, German Chancellor
All European Union countries except Britain agreed to sign an intergovernmental treaty Friday aimed at stricter budget discipline in the single currency area. The deal was welcomed by the ECB President Mario Draghi: "It is a very good outcome for euro area members and it's going to be the basis for a good fiscal compact and more disciplined economic policy in euro area countries."
"We will achieve the new fiscal union. We will have a euro currency within a stable union," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the end of the meeting. "We will have stronger budget deficit regulations for euro-zone members."
"This is a summit that will go down in history," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "We would have preferred a reform of the treaties among 27. That wasn't possible given the position of our British friends. And so it will be through an intergovernmental treaty of 17, but open to others."