European Union leaders have agreed an "ambitious" pan-European economic stimulus package, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.
"We have agreed an ambitious stimulus package," Mr Brown told a news conference at a summit in Brussels, adding the deal was worth around 1.5 per cent of the bloc's total gross domestic product in growth measures.
"It is a very solid result. It is a good platform to build on," said a European Commission source, who earlier confirmed the deal.
The EU-wide economic package is worth about 1.5 per cent of total EU output or some €200 billion ($264 billion), according to a final draft text.
The text, obtained by Reuters before the second day of an EU meeting in Brussels, also reaffirmed that the bloc stuck to a pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.
It also offered Ireland legal guarantees addressing its concerns on the Lisbon Treaty of EU reforms, provided it committed to ratify the text by November 2009 - effectively paving the way for a new referendum by that date.
The final draft remained close in most areas to the details of the stimulus package as presented by the European Commission on November 26th. Some economists are sceptical it will be enough to lift the bloc's economy out of recession.
"The plan provides a common framework for the efforts to be made by member states and by the EU with a view to ensuring consistency and maximising effectiveness," the draft said.
In wording which appeared to reflect the reticence of countries such as Germany to cut value added tax (VAT), the text noted the possibility of reducing VAT on labour-intensive services only by those states that wished to do so.
It noted that rate cuts by the European Central Bank and other central banks were supporting growth and urged commercial banks to pass on those reductions to borrowers.
It further urged EU governments to "return swiftly" to their medium-term budgetary targets - a reference to the goal of obtaining balanced budgets or nearly balanced budgets.
Reuters