The Balkan Chronicle

European leaders, meeting until the early hours of Friday, agreed to sign an intergovernmental treaty that would require them to enforce stricter fiscal and financial discipline in their future budgets. But efforts to get unanimity among the 27 members of the European Union, as desired by Germany, failed as Britain refused to go along.

Importantly, all 17 members of the European Union that use the euro agreed to the new treaty, along with six other countries who wish to join the currency union one day. Two countries, the Czech Republic and Sweden, said they would want to talk to their parties and parliaments at home before deciding, said President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, but it seemed unlikely that Sweden would join. Hungary said it wanted to examine the details, leaving Britain isolated.

Eurozone countries will have to give up on normal democracy and the European Central Bank (ECB) will have to print money if the euro is to survive, Turkey’s ambassador to the EU has said on the eve of the EU summit.

Noting that EU leaders are going in “the right direction” by proposing central control over national budgets in return for help from the ECB, Selim Kuneralp told EUobserver in an interview on Wednesday (7 December) that traditional democratic structures have no future in post-crisis Europe.

As the world nervously watches whether European leaders can save the EU from breakup, another drama brews on the sidelines: the membership struggles of nations trying to break in.

On Friday, the day of a crucial EU summit on solving the continent's debt crisis, representatives of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro will also be in Brussels pushing their bids to enter what increasingly looks like a crumbling house.

The irony is not lost on the Croatians, the closest to achieving their EU dreams.

Croatia is poised to become the European Union's 28th member in July 2013 after the ex-Yugoslav state signed an accession treaty on Friday.   

EU politicians hope Croatia's membership, a reward for deep democratic and economic reforms, will persuade other countries in the Balkans that reforms pay off and accelerate democratic transition in a region torn by ethnic wars in the 1990s.     

Later, European leaders are expected to delay a decision on granting Serbia the status of EU membership candidate, because of concerns over Belgrade's failure to mend relations with its former province Kosovo.    

"The achievement of Croatia proves to all in the region that through hard work, persistence, political courage and determination, EU membership is within reach," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said at a signing ceremony on the sidelines of a summit of EU heads of state.