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European leaders pledged stricter budget discipline Friday to tackle the continent’s debt crisis, but could not agree on an EU treaty change prompted by the situation.

France and Germany failed to persuade all 27 EU members to agree on the change during a summit in Brussels.

Paris and Berlin wanted to change the EU treaty to incorporate a penalty clause for countries that exceed their budgets. They also want a unified corporate tax rate and a new financial transaction tax. But Britain, which does not use the euro, had expressed concerns that the plan would undermine its sovereignty.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he made a “tough, but good” decision to block the EU-wide changes.

Hungary, like Britain, also opposed the new treaty. Sweden and the Czech Republic are undecided.

The economy in the 17 eurozone nations has all but stalled, with some analysts saying it has already dipped into a recession. The European Central Bank took a modest step ahead of the summit to trim its prime interest rate.

Fears that Europe’s debt crisis could spark additional problems have sent jitters through global financial markets and prompted warnings from several top credit rating agencies.