Three countries joined forces with the UK in voting against the 2014 budget of the EU.
Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK were opposed to the compromise reached on the budget which saw cuts of about 6% compared to 2013. The four countries are said to have wanted to slash the budget further.
After hard negotiating, the approved budget totals €135.5 billion. Greater funding will be directed to economic growth, jobs, and humanitarian aid.
EU agencies dealing with migration, asylum and border control will also be strengthened, as will the European financial supervisory authorities.
Some two-thirds of the budget will still support subsidies for farmers and development projects in the poorer areas of the EU (including the UK), as in previous years. But the overall budget for this has been cut by some €7bn.
An additional €400.5m will be spent from the EU "solidarity" fund to help areas of Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and Romania which were hit by flooding this year.
Despite UK opposition to the budget, the UK Conservative leader in Europe, Richard Ashworth MEP, welcomed "what is an effective freeze of the EU budget - headline spend is still set to fall by 6%".
"It is particularly welcome that money has been switched away from less-useful budget headings to the important areas of research and development, education, training and jobs," he added. He called the budget "a step in the right direction".
