European Union leaders have begun a two-day summit in Brussels aimed at agreeing a strategy for tackling the international economic crisis.
The EU has said it may double to 50bn euros (£47bn; $68bn) the amount of emergency funding to help member states that need urgent budget support.
The talks take place as the world's biggest economies prepare for next month's G20 summit in London.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he was confident the deal would be reached on the final day of a two-day summit in Brussels.
Correspondents say EU member states are resisting US calls to spend even more public money to revive their economies.
Meanwhile, EU leaders resisted US calls for more government spending to stimulate their crisis-hit economies.
Germany and France believe stronger regulation should be a priority, while the UK wants more available credit.
They said the focus should be on reforming the global financial system.
Energy security is also expected to figure prominently at the talks in response to the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine in January that led to severe shortages for millions across Eastern Europe.
They are also planning to boost the resources of the International Monetary Fund to help countries in trouble.
The Czech Republic, holders of the EU presidency, will meanwhile call for an "Eastern Partnership" with countries in the former Soviet bloc.
The Brussels summit, which opened on Thursday, takes place as the world's biggest economies prepare for next month's G20 summit in London.
Before the summit started, the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, warned against empty rhetoric.
"What our citizens need now is not words, they need action. I've said it before - implementation, not gesticulation," he said.
Mr Barroso said doubling the emergency funding ceiling to 50bn euros would be "a good signal that the EU is ready to show solidarity and support... to the countries that may need it".
Tighter regulation
The emergency cash is only for member states outside the 16-nation eurozone.
The BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels says that with output tumbling and millions of jobs at risk across the continent, EU leaders seem to have few fresh ideas to offer and little appetite to throw more public money at the crisis.
Hungary and Latvia have already received about 10bn euros (£9bn) to deal with their balance of payments crises.
Romania is the next member seeking a bail-out, the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels says.
The focus at their two-day summit will be on implementing existing recovery plans, worth 400bn euros ($540bn; £376bn) between 2009 and 2010 - equivalent to 3.3% of the EU's gross domestic product - rather than announcing new ones as Washington wants, our correspondent says.
'Deadly idea'
In a joint letter published on Tuesday, Germany and France indicated Europe was doing enough and said the top priority for the G20 summit on 2 April should be to build up new "global financial architecture", with stronger regulation and sanctions to tackle the roots of the crisis.
Separately, the EU leaders ruled out an extra stimulus package, despite calls from Washington for one.
As the summit began, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek also said existing stimulus plans should be allowed to work first.
"Trying to outdo one another with promises will certainly not bring any calm to the situation," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has led calls for European fiscal restraint.
"We are doing enough," he told reporters. "Some of us have not quite yet implemented our national recovery plans, so we don't know their impact. It does not make sense to introduce new packages."
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country is holding the EU's rotating presidency, said the leaders were "unanimous in their views" that they "are going to be prudent" with economy stimulus plans.
But British diplomats in Brussels say the UK will emphasise that there is a need to make more credit available, and to combat protectionism.
He warned that any more deficit spending was "a deadly idea", adding that EU leaders were awaiting the results of the 200bn-euro (£188bn) package agreed in December.
Pipeline squabble
With output tumbling and millions of jobs at risk across the continent, EU leaders seem to have few fresh ideas to offer and little appetite to throw more public money at the crisis, our correspondent says.
EU leaders are expected to offer to contribute $100bn towards doubling the money that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has to help countries in trouble.
EU leaders also approved a plan to spend several more billion euros on upgrading energy and broadband connections.
After the winter gas crisis, energy security is a major issue
This included funds for a controversial gas pipeline project meant to reduce Europe's dependency on Russian energy.
There is also willingness to put billions more into an 25bn euro ($34; £23.5bn) EU fund for hard-hit Eastern European economies, which Hungary and Latvia are already drawing on.
The plan was agreed in response to the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine in January that led to severe shortages for millions across Eastern Europe.
But our correspondent says there has been much squabbling over what may seem very little - a European Commission plan to use 5bn euros ($6.75bn; £4.7bn) in unspent farm subsidies for new energy and intranet infrastructure.
The German government opposes spending some of the money on Nabucco, a planned pipeline that would bring gas from Central Asia to Europe, bypassing Russia - a project backed by many former communist countries and the US.
An official close to Nabucco told the BBC that the row was quite unhelpful, as the companies involved in the project are hoping to reach agreements on gas supplies from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan by the summer.
