France and Germany are among the group backing UK Prime Minister David Cameron on the budget.

The issue was not formally on the agenda at the Brussels summit, but Mr Cameron insisted that the EU should set an example of budget prudence.

Tough talks lie ahead with the European Parliament, which wants a 5.9 percent rise. The European Commission - the EU's executive arm - is on the parliament's side in calling for 5.9 percent.

If no compromise is reached by a mid-November deadline the budget will remain frozen at the 2010 figure. A freeze was what Mr Cameron was originally calling for, but other EU leaders refused to back the idea.

In a letter to the European Council President, Herman Van Rompuy, the 11 leaders say the budget proposals from the Commission and the parliament "are especially unacceptable at a time when we are having to take difficult decisions at national level to control public expenditure".

They say they cannot accept any more than 2.9 percent - the increase agreed earlier this year by the Council. That rise would still cost UK taxpayers an estimated £435m (nearly 500m euros).