After a day of intensive plenary and bilateral talks, EU leaders in Brussels have clinched a historic deal on a first Constitution for Europe.
The pact is seen as the crowning achievement of the outgoing Irish EU Presidency.
The leaders applauded the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who successfully chaired the two-day negotiations.
The Minister for European Affairs, Dick Roche made the announcement to reporters at the summit in Brussels.
He said EU leaders were returning for round-table talks to adopt the text.
Mr Roche added that the leaders might well delay trying to reach agreement on who should be the next head of the European Commission.
Britain and France had earlier criticised each other over the slow progress of the deals which are vital to the future of the EU.
No movement on Commission President
The Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has meanwhile withdrawn his candidacy to become next president of the executive Commission after the leaders failed to agree on a candidate during their two-day summit.
He told reporters that he was no longer available and that he did not want the uncertainty to last for a few weeks.
The Danish Prime Minister said he expected the selection to be settled in a 'matter of days', before Ireland's presidency of the EU ends on 30 June.
This morning, the leaders formally declared that Croatia is a candidate for EU membership, and negotiations for its accession will begin early next year.
