David Cameron issued a stark warning to European counterparts that Brussels is “too big, too bossy, too interfering” as he made clear his opposition to the front runner in line to take the union’s top job.

The Prime Minister warned fellow leaders they cannot “shrug off” the dire results of the euro elections and over dinner will demand they are more ruthless about the European Union’s priorities.

Discussions will focus on setting out the process for finding a replacement for European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso when his term ends in October, but Mr Cameron signalled he is deeply opposed to current front runner Jean-Claude Juncker, an EU veteran with federalist ambitions.

In a thinly-veiled swipe, the premier stressed the importance of securing a candidate focused on openness and flexibility instead of being bound up in the union’s past.

Although Mr Cameron cannot formally veto Mr Juncker, who has been nominated as the candidate of the European People’s Party grouping – the block the PM previously pulled the Tories out of over its federalist sympathies – it is unlikely that the European Council, made up of the EU’s 28 national heads of government, would force through a new president without unanimous backing.

Arriving for the talks, the Prime Minister told reporters: “Europe cannot shrug off theses results. We need an approach that recognises that Europe should concentrate on what matters, on growth and jobs and not try and do so much.

“We need an approach that recognises that Brussels has got too big, too bossy, too interfering. We need more for nation states. It should be nation states wherever possible and Europe only where necessary.

“Of course we need people running these organisations that really understand that and can build a Europe that is about openness, competitiveness and flexibility, not about the past.”

Ukip leader Nigel Farage earlier claimed there was “nobody more fanatical about building the United States of Europe” than Mr Juncker and insisted his candidacy has come “just at the moment that the European electors have made it clear they are going in the wrong direction”.