Cameron hails EU deal to give Britain 'special status', battle looms

At a summit that ran into overtime, EU leaders agreed unanimously on a package of measures aimed at keeping Britain in the 28-nation bloc to avoid a potentially disastrous divorce.

Their legally binding decision granted Britain an explicit exemption from the founding goal of "ever closer union", offered concessions on the welfare rights of migrant workers and safeguards for the City of London financial center.

The British prime minister said he had achieved all his main negotiating aims and would recommend the agreement to his cabinet on February 20, firing the starting gun on a fierce referendum campaign on Britain's future membership of the bloc.

"I believe we are stronger, safer and better off inside a reformed European Union," he told a news conference. "And that is why I will be campaigning with all my heart and soul to persuade the British people to remain in the reformed European union that we have secured today."

The euroskeptic "Vote Leave" campaign was quick to dismiss what it called "Cameron's hollow deal" as bad for Britain.

Cameron acknowledged that one of his closest political allies, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, would campaign to leave the EU, saying he was disappointed but not surprised. He suggested other Conservatives may also join the "out" camp.

He would not officially confirm the expected polling date of June 23 but said he would make an announcement soon.

After two days of intense wrangling in Brussels, EU leaders determined to try to keep Britain in the union resolved outstanding disputes over migrant workers' welfare rights and relations between London and the euro zone.

"So now the deal is done and its up to the British people to decide," said European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker - the man Cameron tried furiously to block for the top EU executive job, but who played a key role in crafting the deal.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of Britain's strongest allies in Europe, said: "We believe that with this we have given David Cameron a package with which he can campaign in Britain for Britain to stay in the European Union."

The agreement delivered victory to Cameron on several of the key demands on which he chose to fight for what he called "a new settlement" with Europe.