The European Union president called an extraordinary meeting on May 23 of EU leaders who are expected to debate ways to generate growth amid rising opposition to austerity measures.
EU president Herman Van Rompuy announced the date for an "informal dinner of heads of state or government" to precede a decisive summit already scheduled for June 28-29.
The May meeting will see French president-elect Francois Hollande, who has led recent calls to re-balance EU economic policy, take his seat among fellow EU leaders for the first time.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has so far resisted any major shift away from budgetary consolidation.
As with so many such gatherings over the past two years, the meeting may yet end up dominated by problems in Greece - where a majority voted in a weekend general election for anti-bailout parties and where political leaders are struggling to form a coalition to enact cuts that were a condition of new loans.
Trouble within the far bigger debt-laden euro zone economy of Spain, where the banking system is loaded with bad debts, is also likely to vie for their attention.
British Prime Minister David Cameron remains fiercely opposed to any increase in EU spending - which the European Commission wants increased over the rest of the decade and directed more and more at investments tipped to deliver quicker growth.
Demanding that national capitals "seize the moment," Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said: "If we are serious about investment for growth, we need to agree an EU budget for the next seven years that shifts the focus of spending to growth-enhancing measures''.
"While the return to lasting growth will take time, a turnaround can be achieved by the end of this year if the necessary decisions are taken now. I hope that member states which are calling for more measures to support growth will reflect this in their positions on the EU budget," he added.
Barroso has lodged proposals with national capitals for a 6.8% or €9 billion increase in the EU's 2013 budget to €138 billion, and an overall EU outlay of more than a €1 trillion between now and the end of the decade.
Bigger member states have so far rejected the 2013 figure on the grounds it is way above inflation and incongruous at a time when national governments are cutting domestic spending.
Outgoing French President Nicolas Sarkozy was among a group of leaders who also want to slash €100 billion from the total for the 2014-2020 EU budgetary cycle.
In another clear nod to Hollande to change stance, his fellow French Socialist head of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy, called for a "European growth budget," in an opinion piece published by Le Monde.
"The survival of the euro zone depends on an economic government and a European growth budget," Lamy wrote in an article co-signed by former European Bank for Reconstruction and Development head Jacques Attali.
Barroso re-packaged proposals going back 18 months - seeking to leverage public and private investment especially in energy, transport and digital infrastructures on the grounds that these would prove major growth drivers going forward.
He also emphasised a call for changes to labour taxation that he said could create tens of millions of jobs in the green economy, health services and the information technology and communications sectors.
An early decision he is seeking at the June summit is for an increase of €10 billion in states' paid-in capital at the European Investment Bank.
No honeymoon from EU debt for Hollande
France's president-elect Francois Hollande was plunged straight into the European economic debate yesterday.
Doubts over his economic plans and turmoil in Greece threatened to tip the euro zone back into crisis.
The 57 year old Socialist won power on Sunday, ousting right-wing leader Nicolas Sarkozy.
He is due to take office formally on May 15 before embarking on a packed calendar of major international summits.
First on his agenda will be Europe's debt crisis, where he is on a collision course with fellow EU leaders over his plan to renegotiate the bloc's fiscal pact, which many credit with saving the euro zone from meltdown.
Hollande promised supporters that he would reopen talks to ensure the pact focused on growth rather than simply imposing deficit-cutting austerity rules, an idea opposed by Berlin.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned once again that reopening talks on the pact - endorsed by 25 of 27 EU governments in March - would be impossible.
She nevertheless said she would welcome Hollande to Berlin next week "with open arms" and said they had agreed during a telephone call on Sunday to work "well and intensively" together.
Hollande's campaign director Pierre Moscovici confirmed that Merkel had been the first head of government to contact the new French leader after his win and that Berlin would be his first visit after inauguration. Germany is France's traditional partner in Europe and a good relationship between the two neighbours is crucial for the stability of the bloc.
The White House said yesterday that its alliance with France was just as strong as before Hollande's victory. White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama looked forward to welcoming Hollande to NATO and G8 summits in the US later this month.
The uncertainty generated by Hollande's election and the political turmoil in Greece, where election gains by hard-left and extreme-right parties stripped the ruling coalition of its majority, perturbed the markets. Stocks tumbled in Asia yesterday and opened down sharply in France before recovering.
The euro took a new battering before bouncing back, while the spread in yields between French and German bonds widened, as markets eyed developments in the euro zone warily.
Japan's Finance Minister Jun Azumi said the election results in France and Greece could have a "destabilising" effect on the markets, as he warned traders against speculative currency moves. Traders voiced fears of a backlash against austerity measures designed to slash euro zone public deficits.
Despite the concerns, France raised €7.98 billion in short-term debt yesterday, with lower interest rates paid to investors for two of the three maturities offered. And Fitch ratings agency said Hollande's victory would not have an immediate impact on France's top triple-A rating.
Hollande plans to replace some of Sarkozy's cost-cutting with higher taxes on the wealthy while balancing the French budget by 2017, despite a hiring spree in education and a return to retirement at 60 for some workers.
After a meeting with Merkel shortly after his inauguration, Hollande will travel to the US for the G8 summit on May 18 and 19 and a NATO gathering on May 20 and 21.
Official final results of Sunday's second-round election showed that Hollande had won 51.62% of the vote to Sarkozy's 48.38%.
