A total of 25 European Union (EU) member states would join and sign a new fiscal treaty designed to enshrine tighter deficit and debt discipline, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said here late on Monday.

Britain and the Czech Republic are the two countries that would opt out on the so-called "treaty on stability, coordination and governance in economic and monetary union," he said at a press conference that was originally focused on growth and employment in Europe amidst a debt crisis that still showed no sign of easing after plaguing the region for more than two years.

Both Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called the agreement a major achievement, and said 17 eurozone states would sign the treaty in March at the next summit meeting, together with the non-euro area leaders of countries willing to join.

In the same time, an arrangement will be decided about the procedure to be followed to bring to the Court of Justice a case of non-compliance with the treaty, according to a communication issued at the end of the meeting.

  European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso listens to France's president Nicolas Sarkozy at the EU summit in Brussels. Photograph: Francois Lenoir /Reuters

EU leaders agreed in December last year on the fiscal treaty which included a "structural deficit" of 0.5 percent of GDP and automatic sanctions for countries whose deficits top 3 percent of GDP.

"The Treaty is all about more responsibility and better surveillance. Every country that signs it commits to bringing in a 'debt brake' or 'golden rule' into its own legislation, and will do so at constitutional or equivalent level," Van Rompuy said.

The treaty would come into force with the ratification from 12 of the 17 eurozone states, he said.

Meanwhile, Van Rompuy said it was "common sense" for non-eurozone countries which have ratified the fiscal treaty to be "involved in discussions in the issues related to the treaty, also on eventual modification in the architecture of the fundamental rules of the eurozone."

He also said there will be a European council meeting before each eurozone summit meetings unless it is justified by "exceptional circumstances," so as to "take onboard all the concerns of the non-euro area member states," and of those which refuse to ratify the treaty.

Xinhua