EU leaders finally clinch reform treaty deal

He was unapologetic over comments that Poland deserved compensation for its suffering in World War Two. This offended many European leaders and privately infuriated Merkel.

"History is history. It is fact that had there not been the war, Poland would not have 38 million people, but many more," Kaczynski said.

Merkel struggled to break Polish opposition to the treaty which it complained would cut Warsaw's voting power and give more say to big countries, especially Germany.

She eventually threatened to launch treaty negotiations without Warsaw's assent, prompting a final dash for compromise.

DELAY

Poland settled for a deal that put off full application of the new decision-making procedure until 2017.

Warsaw was also offered pledges of solidarity by the rest of the bloc in the event of future energy crises, a big concern of Poland which is heavily dependent on imports from giant gas and oil exporter Russia, its neighbor and former communist master.

The treaty will preserve key features of the constitution such as the creation of a long-term president of the Union and a foreign policy chief with increased powers.

"The constitutional treaty was an easily understandable treaty. This is a simplified treaty which is very complicated," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker quipped.

The tense summit was French President Nicolas Sarkozy's first and British Prime Minister Tony Blair's last.