The chancellor is fighting a rearguard action against proposals to cut Britain's rebate from the EU budget.
Gordon Brown was attending a meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday, where he was insisting that the government would veto any attempt to reduce the annual £3.2bn repayment.
The Ecofin gathering was discussing the proposed six-year EU budget for 2007-13, with several countries keen to see the UK's 21-year-old rebate reduced or scrapped altogether when heads of government meet next week.
The Luxembourg government wants to see the budget passed under its presidency at the council of ministers meeting.
Britain will already see a reduction in its contribution, due to an accounting change, but will resist any moves to tie this to the rebate.
Instead, the chancellor wants to see a planned 35 per cent spending increase to around £675bn radically reduced to around one per cent of the union's combined wealth, or £540bn.
A senior official told the Times on Tuesday: "Our aim will be to show that spending can be curbed in such a way that it is not necessary to reopen the whole payments argument, including the British rebate."
The government maintains that the rebate remains as justified now as it was when Margaret Thatcher negotiated it in 1984.
It is also in less of a rush to agree a deal. "We are talking about spending from the beginning of 2007, so we don't have to agree now," an official said.
While the UK remains a net contributor to the EU due to the small amount of agricultural subsidies it receives, the European Commission wants other net losers to benefit from a general adjustment mechanism, arguing that Britain is now a lot wealthier than it was in 1984.
The Treasury is also objecting to a suggestion that the rebate be fixed at £3.2bn in cash and decline over time in real terms.
