The heads of states and governments from the 27 EU member states agreed at a summit in Lisbon on Thursday night over the final form of the EU reform treaty due to replace the old constitutional one, which was rejected by France and Netherlands two years ago.

Shortly after the agreement was reached late last night, Romania President Traian Basescu, accompanied by Foreign minister Adrian Cioroianu, explained the new provisions of the treaty.

“The European Union has a treaty”, President Basescu said, adding that the deal put an end to six years of European efforts in this regard.

The document is due to be signed in Lisbon on December 13 this year to be applied starting 2009.

The 250-page document was approved at about 3 a.m. Romanian time after several compromises made by Poland and Italy, two countries that had raised objections about the content of the treaty.

Rome opposed the new algorithm setting the number of representatives each member country has in the European Parliament, while Poland gave ground about its claims to a voting mechanism allowing medium-sized countries the possibility to block EU policies.

The treaty has to be signed and ratified by all 27 member states before it comes into force.

According to Romanian Foreign minister Cioroianu, Romania will now have to establish the way to ratify the reform treaty. He said the Lisbon accord was a “historical moment” and shows the “capacity for compromise of the European Union”.