25 EU states sign up for EU fiscal pact
25 of the EU's 27 member states have agreed to join a fiscal treaty to enforce budget discipline. The UK and Czech Republic refuse agreement.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti chat before the meeting at the European Council in Brussels.
All EU nations except Britain and the Czech Republic agreed at a summit last night to join a fiscal pact aimed at preventing future debt crises.
Malta was among the 25 countries that agreed on the new fiscal pact. EU president Herman Van Rompuy said: "25 member states join and will sign the fiscal compact."
The new pact, will require European governments to introduce laws on balanced budgets and impose near automatic sanctions on countries that violate deficit rules.
Germany - the eurozone's biggest lender and most powerful economy - was particularly keen to get a binding treaty adopted to enforce budget rules.
The goal is much closer co-ordination of budget policy across the EU to prevent excessive debts accumulating.
The treaty will empower the European Court of Justice to monitor compliance and impose fines on rule-breakers.
The treaty also spells out the enhanced role of the European Commission in scrutinising national budgets.
European Union leaders also discussed ways to stimulate economic growth despite the stringent austerity budgets in many countries - and focused on how to reduce unemployment across the eurozone.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said his government would act if the treaty threatened UK interests.
He still has "legal concerns" about the use of EU institutions in enforcing the fiscal treaty, he said.
The Czechs cited "constitutional reasons" for their refusal, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy said.
