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The "fiscal compact" aims to prevent the 17 eurozone states running up huge debts like those which sparked the Greek, Irish and Portuguese bailouts.
To take effect, the pact must be ratified by 12 eurozone states.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who with the Czechs refused to sign, said the summit had accepted his ideas for cutting red tape and boosting growth.
On Thursday he had complained that his ideas, contained in a joint letter signed by 12 EU leaders, were being ignored.
But after the talks he said "our letter really did become the agenda for this meeting... We now have a plan that we must stick to in the months ahead".
The newly reappointed President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said the British proposals were being taken seriously and he had sought to redraft the summit's conclusions accordingly.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel described it as a "great leap", a first step towards stability and political union.
Germany is reluctant to increase the size of the permanent rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which comes into force on 1 July.
The leaders put off until the end of March a decision on its size. There are calls to combine the 250bn euros (£209bn; $333bn) left in the temporary bailout fund - the EFSF - with the 500bn-euro ESM.
More budget pain The fiscal pact emerged at an EU summit in December, where Mr Cameron vetoed plans to change the EU treaties so that greater budget surveillance would be enforced.
The pact may face an early test as both Spain and the Netherlands have admitted they will miss targets for reducing their deficits, BBC Europe editor Gavin Hewitt reports.
Spain, already struggling with painful public sector cuts, wants to negotiate a higher deficit target with the EU. But Brussels made no concessions on Friday.
While there was a change of emphasis at this summit, "from crisis mode to growth mode" in the words of one senior official, growth will be difficult to achieve whilst tough spending cuts are being made, Gavin Hewitt adds.
Whereas in the past even France and Germany broke the EU's deficit rules the new treaty is aimed at preventing such practices.
Eurozone countries will scrutinise each other's budgets and the European Court of Justice will be able to check whether nations stick to the rules. It will fine them up to 0.1% of national GDP if they fail to do so.
'Credibility at stake' In a speech at the signing ceremony, Mr Van Rompuy said: "This stronger self-constraint by each and every one of you as regards debts and deficits is important in itself.
"It helps prevent a repetition of the sovereign debt crisis. It will thus also reinforce trust among member states, which is politically important as well.
"The restoration of confidence in the future of the eurozone will lead to economic growth and jobs. This is our ultimate objective."
The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, called the pact a strong political statement for the EU.
"In the eyes of the world what is at stake is the very credibility of the euro area and of Europe as a whole," he said.
The pact, he said, enhanced the euro's permanence "contrary to all the negative prophecies".
Irish vote The fiscal compact will now go before national parliaments and, in the case of the Irish Republic, a referendum.
Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum in 2008, before approving it a year later after obtaining EU concessions, but the success of this fiscal treaty is unlikely to depend on Irish voters.
Irish businessman Declan Ganley, a leading "No" campaigner in 2008, has said he may support the fiscal compact if Brussels offers Dublin better terms in bailing out its banks.
The chances of a "Yes" vote were around 50-50, he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
While the compact only needs to be ratified by 12 of the eurozone states to take effect, any state which fails to back it will lose the right to future bailouts.
An international bailout worth about 85bn euros ($113bn; £72bn) was granted to Dublin in November 2010.

Wukan, in southern Guangdong province, has come to symbolise the anger felt over land seizures by rural officials.
It ousted local officials three months ago and won the right to elections as part of a deal to end unrest there.
Respected elder Lin Zuluan was voted in as village chief, with Yang Semao his deputy.
After his landslide victory, with 6,205 votes on an 80% turnout, Mr Lin said: "With this kind of recognition from the villagers, I'll work doubly hard for them."
Some 6,800 residents had turned up at a local school to cast their ballots.
Five other seats on the village committee will be filled in a run-off vote on Sunday.
'Solidarity' Activists from other parts of the country had travelled to Wukan to observe the polls and to try to highlight their own grievances.
"Wukan is an example for us," Hua Youjuan, a village chief from Huangshan in eastern China where residents have also protested against corruption, told Reuters.
"What Wukan has achieved through its solidarity is something we can also learn from," he added.
Protests had been simmering in Wukan since September.
Villagers said officials had sold off their land to developers and failed to compensate them properly.
The unrest escalated after the death of a village negotiator in police custody in December.
Police say he died of a "sudden illness", but his family say he was beaten to death.
The granting of elections was seen as a surprising concession from the Guangdong authorities, led by ambitious Communist Party head Wang Yang.

The court-appointed experts will now spend months examining the evidence.
At least 30 people are believed to have died when the ship struck rocks off the Tuscan coast on 13 January.
Captain Francesco Schettino denies accusations of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship before all those aboard were evacuated.
He did not attend the hearing, in the town of Grosseto.
Panel of experts Mr Schettino's brother-in-law has said that the captain is feeling both depressed and scared as he watches the inquiry unfold from his home in the town of Meta di Sorrento, near Naples, and that the deaths of those who did not survive are weighing heavily upon him.
His lawyer Bruno Leporatti added that Mr Schettino was "stunned" by the accident.
"He is a man who has feelings, who is pained over what happened," he said.
The hearing took place in a theatre in Grosseto which has been turned into a temporary courtroom. Relatives of the victims, survivors and lawyers attended.
No journalists or members of the public were allowed to attend.
Evidence and testimony amassed since the crash, including recordings from the ship's "black box," was handed over to the panel - made up of two naval experts and two academics.
The BBC's Alan Johnston, in Rome, says these four will have the task of trying to reconstruct what happened and apportion degrees of culpability and blame. He says the process will probably take months.
The ship, carrying 4,200 passengers and crew, had its hull ripped open when it hit rocks in darkness, just hours into a Mediterranean cruise.
'I messed up' The company, part of the world's largest cruise operator Carnival Corp, has blamed Mr Schettino for the accident.
Costa Cruises has said it has "complete faith in the judicial system" and has offered its "fullest collaboration" with the Italian authorities.
The investigation will also look at the decisions and actions of Costa's vice-president, Manfred Ursprunger, and the head of its crisis unit, Roberto Ferrarini, with whom Mr Schettino was in contact during the evacuation.
The ship's first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, is also under investigation. An Italian newspaper, Il Fatto Quotidiano, has published a leak of an account said to have been given by the second-in-command to the inquiry.
In it, he says that Capt Schettino had explicitly taken sole command of the ship on the approach to the island. At the last moment, he realised he was too close and ordered a sharp turn away but it was too late and the ship hit the rocks.
Speaking in Neapolitan dialect, the captain is then reported to have said: "I messed up", according to the newspaper.
It reports that, according to Mr Ambrosio, Mr Schettino was reluctant to acknowledge the gravity of the crisis and was not truthful when the coastguard began demanding information.

It will benefit some 100,000 fishermen, local residents and clean-up workers whose livelihoods or health suffered.
The company has not admitted liability and still faces claims from the US and state governments, and drilling firms.
The rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, killing 11 workers and leaking four million barrels of oil.
BP says it expects the money to come from a $20bn (£12.6bn) compensation fund it had previously set aside.
"From the beginning, BP stepped up to meet our obligations to the communities in the Gulf Coast region, and we've worked hard to deliver on that commitment for nearly two years," BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley said.
"The proposed settlement represents significant progress toward resolving issues from the Deepwater Horizon accident and contributing further to economic and environmental restoration efforts along the Gulf Coast."
Lawyers for the plaintiffs' group, the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, said the settlement "does the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people".
Trial adjourned A trial in the case, due to begin on Monday, will now be delayed - for a second time - as a result of the deal, Judge Carl Barbier said.
The settlement will "likely result in a realignment of the parties," he said.
The trial is now being adjourned "in order to allow the parties to reassess their respective positions," Judge Barbier said.
The trial was due to resolve claims for damages and civil penalties arising from the spill.
Judge Barbier is an expert in maritime law and has consolidated hundreds of spill-related lawsuits into a single case.
The trial will probably still go ahead in order to apportion blame for the spill among BP and its fellow defendants.
Other companies involved include Transocean, who owned the rig, and Halliburton. All the companies are in dispute with each other over their liability to each other.
BP has so far paid out $7.5bn in clean-up costs and compensation.
US President Barack Obama called the spill "the worst environmental disaster the nation has ever faced".
It took 85 days to permanently stop the release of crude oil.

Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo insisted Fifa appoint someone else to work with Brazil on the competition.
Jerome Valcke had said Brazil needed a "kick up the backside".
He said the country appeared to be more concerned with winning the World Cup than organising it.
Mr Valcke responded to the sports minister's snub by calling the move "puerile".
'Not working' Mr Rebelo branded Mr Valcke's comments inappropriate and said Brazil would no longer welcome him to the country.
"In light of these statements, which are inadequate and unacceptable comments for any type of relationship, the Brazilian government is going to send a letter to Blatter telling him it no longer accepts Secretary-General Valcke as an interlocutor," Mr Rebelo said.
Brazil would work with other local Fifa organisers but not Mr Valcke, who Mr Rebelo said had contradicted comments Fifa itself had made after a visit in January.
"The secretary-general made an evaluation that does not correspond to the facts or the reality,'' Mr Rebelo added.
Mr Valcke had said during a visit to London: "I don't understand why things are not moving.
"The concern is that nothing is made or prepared to receive so many people, because the world wants to go to Brazil. I am sorry to say but things are not working in Brazil."
The Fifa secretary general also expressed frustration at delays in approving a law setting out the regulatory framework for the World Cup.
The World Cup bill - currently being considered by the Brazilian Congress - would lift a ban on alcohol sales in stadiums and limit discount ticket sales to students and pensioners.
But it has been opposed by lawmakers who say it gives Fifa too much power, as well as those who are against alcohol sales in stadiums on health and safety grounds.
Speaking on Saturday, Mr Valcke said: "If [I'm] the problem because nothing has happened over the five years... because I made, wow, one comment saying things are not working well and I for once said exactly what is happening in Brazil - if the result is they don't want to talk to me any more, I'm not the guy they want to work with, that's a bit puerile."
The Brazilian government has always said it is determined to deliver a successful World Cup as well as a lasting legacy.
It is investing billions of dollars in building new stadiums and renovating old ones, as well as in transport infrastructure such as roads and airports.
The 2014 World Cup will be the first in South America since Argentina hosted the tournament in 1978, and the first in Brazil since 1950.

The states of Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Alabama were all affected by the intense winds which flattened homes, lifted rooftops and downed powerlines.
An unknown number of people are missing after communication lines were damaged.
A total of 90 tornadoes and 700 severe weather events were reported on Friday.
Correspondents say it will be impossible to make an immediate assessment of the full extent of the damage.
Tornadoes occur all year round in the US, although the strength of this week's storms was unusual for the time of year - the peak period is March to May in the southern US and later further north.
'Completely gone'
At least 14 people died in southern Indiana, reports said, and another 13 in neighbouring Kentucky.
The small town of Marysville, Indiana, was almost completely destroyed, with the town's water tower one of the few buildings to remain undamaged, local reports said.
Clark County Sheriff Danny Rodden said that residents had been warned of oncoming storms but added: "This was the worst-case scenario. There's no way you can prepare for something like this."
In the town of Henryville, a roof was ripped from a school and a school bus thrown against a restaurant. No-one was seriously injured in either incident.
"We're not unfamiliar with Mother Nature's wrath out here in Indiana," Governor Mitch Daniels told CNN during a visit to the stricken south-eastern corner of the state on Saturday.
"But this is about as serious as we've seen in the years since I've been in this job," he said as he viewed the damage in Henryville.
Prison damaged
In Chelsea, southern Indiana, three members of one family - including a four-year-old child - died in their house when the storm struck.
The child and mother were huddled in a basement when the storm hit and sucked the child from her arms. The mother survived, but her 70-year-old grandparents, who were upstairs, both died.
"She was in the cellar with the boy when the tornado hit. It blew him right out of her hands," Tony Williams, the owner of the town's General Store said.
"They found the bodies in the field outside," he added, referring to the grandparents.
Three people were reported dead in Ohio while in northern Alabama, one person died.
At least 40 homes were destroyed and 150 damaged in the state while the roof of a prison in the path of the storm was damaged, forcing 300 inmates to be moved to another part of the facility.
Earlier this week, 13 people died after twisters swept through Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and Tennessee.

A spokesman said they were negotiating and would not give up as the need on the ground was great.
Syrian officials say the area is being cleared of booby traps.
But there have been reports of revenge killings by Syrian forces since rebel fighters pulled out, and shelling has been reported in other areas of Homs.
Meanwhile, the bodies of a US journalist and a French photographer have been handed over to diplomats.
The bodies of Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik were taken by the diplomats from the Al-Assad University Hospital in Damascus, reports said.
'Street by street' The seven-lorry Red Cross aid convoy spent the night in Homs and is set to spend a second after being blocked from entering Baba Amr, despite having been initially given permission from the government.
"[The International Committee of the Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Cross Society] could not enter Baba Amr today," said the UK spokesman of the ICRC, Sean Maguire.
"Negotiations to gain access to the suburb continue. Our teams remain in Homs, ready to enter Baba Amr as soon as possible."
But he said their presence in Baba Amr was vital.
"The needs on the ground are quite large and we need to get in quickly," he said, adding that they were not giving up.
"We haven't turned back... We're persistent."
The BBC's Jim Muir, in neighbouring Lebanon, says the reason being given by the Syrian authorities is that there are mines and potential booby traps in Baba Amr that need to be cleared first.
But he says there have been unconfirmed reports of revenge killings and summary executions by Syrian forces in Baba Amr and opposition activists believe the delay is to cover this up.
The reports speak of mass arrests of males over the age of 11, with the local cooperative building being turned into a detention centre.
One report alleged that a lorryload of dead bodies from Baba Amr was seen on a nearby highway. There were also reports of explosions and shootings in other nearby districts to which many families from Baba Amr had fled.
There were reports of renewed shelling in other parts of Homs on Saturday.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights group said mortar and machine-gun rounds had been fired into Jobar, adjacent to Baba Amr, while the Local Coordination Committees network said the districts of Khaldiya, Bab Sbaa and Khader had also been shelled.
Syrian state media said there had also been a suicide car bomb attack in the southern city of Daraa that had killed two people.
Syrian state television has broadcast pictures from inside Baba Amr that show massive destruction, which it blamed on "armed terrorist gangs" carrying out a foreign plot to undermine Syrian stability.
Conditions in Baba Amr are said to be terrible, with no power and little food, water and medical supplies.
Our correspondent says the TV pictures showed nobody at all on the streets and that until the Red Cross gains access to make an assessment it will be impossible to say how many people remain.
One activist, Bassel Fouad, who has escaped to Lebanon, said colleagues who stayed behind had told him that pro-government gunmen were "entering homes and setting them on fire".
"They begin at the start of a street and enter and search house after house,'' he told Associated Press. "Then they start with another street.''
'Disproportionate force' In an address to the UN General Assembly on Friday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the international community had failed in its duty, and inaction had encouraged Syria's leaders in their repression of civilians.
Mr Ban said it was time for the international community to speak with one voice.
"Continued division emboldens the Syrian authorities in their violent path," he said.
He added: "The disproportionate use of force by Syrian authorities has driven what had been largely peaceful opposition forces to resort to take up arms in some cases."
Meanwhile Paul Conroy, a Sunday Times photographer who fled Syria after being wounded in Homs, told the BBC that what was happening in Baba Amr was "systematic slaughter".
Mr Conroy, who was smuggled out of Syria into Lebanon on Tuesday, described the scenes in Homs from his hospital bed in the UK.
"I've done a fair few wars, I've never seen anything on this level," he said.
"There are no targets, it's pure systematic slaughter of a civilian population."