European leaders on Thursday approved a new treaty that will reshape the European Union's institutions and streamline decision-making. "With this new treaty, with this agreement, we've managed to get out of a blind alley we've been in for some time," Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates told reporters. "We no longer have an institutional crisis. We're going to be ready to tackle the challenges of the future." A stalemate was resolved after the Polish delegation accepted a proposal, Socrates said. The treaty was approved on the first day of a two-day summit in Lisbon, Portugal, which holds the rotating EU presidency. The treaty would succeed a proposed EU constitution that was scrapped in 2005 after voters in France and Holland rejected it in referenda. The treaty changes voting procedures, increases the role of the European parliament and includes a charter of fundamental rights. The treaty lacks the constitution's most contentious elements -- such as an EU flag and anthem, The Associated Press reported. But under the treaty, an EU executive and an EU president will represent the union abroad and be chosen by EU leaders for five-year terms, according to AP. EU leaders are to formally sign the treaty in Lisbon on December 13, AP reported.
