David Cameron has called for an overhaul of one of the fundamental freedoms of the European Union, the ability of all EU citizens to move freely in the union.

The prime minister told a summit of EU leaders in Brussels that the criteria used when negotiating the entry of new member states had to be changed to curb what he called "mass population movements".

He also hinted that Britain could veto the admission of new member states unless the rules were changed, although there is no prospect of any further countries joining the EU over the next decade.

According to witnesses at the summit, there were no responses from other leaders to Cameron's call for a new regime on freedom of movement, one of the four basic freedoms of the EU, along with capital, services, and goods.

"We must return the principle of free movement to what is reasonable," the prime minister said. "There is a need to tackle free movement abuse."

His remarks went beyond measures to restrict the rights of EU newcomers to Britain to claim benefits, moves announced in advance of opening Britain to Bulgaria and Romania from 1 January.

"As we contemplate countries like Serbia or Albania one day joining the EU we must find a way to slow down access to each other's labour markets until we can be sure that it will not cause vast migrations. We need to return the principle of free movement to a more sensible basis and make it clear that it cannot be a completely unqualified right.

"We do need to re-examine this," he said. "It's about sending a signal."

In the cases of Bulgaria and Romania, the prime minister said: "There is freedom of movement to come and get a job. There is not free movement to come and claim."

But he went further than the immediate issue of the two Balkan countries, arguing that in future curbs should be introduced when membership is being negotiated.

He told the other leaders, according to sources, that a candidate country's wealth should determine whether its citizens would enjoy the right to move across the EU when it joined. Wage levels and a country's gross domestic product were especially important benchmarks, the prime minister said.

"It's a big reversal of Britain's [EU] enlargement policy," said an EU official. "The UK has always been the champion of enlargement. That's changed. But there are more than three freedoms in the EU."

There was no sign of support for the British position at the summit, according to sources. The European commission says the fundamentals of freedom of movement cannot be tampered with.

Despite the move by the home secretary, Theresa May, to prevent newcomers to Britain from claiming benefits for three months after their arrival, the prime minister admitted that the government had inadequate data on the issue.

"We don't have nearly good enough figures on benefit tourism."

The clampdown, which was rushed through, demonstrated the anxiety in Downing Street at the possible reaction of Tory voters – and restive backbenchers – to Romanians and Bulgarians travelling to Britain en masse.

Hinting at the possible blocking of further states joining, Cameron pointedly noted that admitting a new country to the EU required the "unanimous" backing of all 28 countries.

Sources said Cameron wanted to use the issue as another lever to try to force a re-negotiation of EU treaties to try to secure a new deal for Britain in Europe before possibly putting the UK's membership to the vote in a 2017 referendum.

He repeated his calls for treaty change, despite the lack of enthusiasm almost everywhere else in the EU.

Cameron noted Germany's push at the summit for a new system of binding contracts among eurozone countries forcing economic reforms, a proposal that received minimal support and was shelved until towards the end of next year.

Cameron described such potential changes as "far-reaching". He said: "This will obviously mean much deeper integration [in the eurozone]. This will require treaty change."

The prime minister said: "We need to go one step further and look at more robust transitional controls in the future." He added that he agreed with the Dutch that Albania should not be allowed to open membership negotiations yet.

Raising the possibility of a British veto on a bigger EU, Cameron said: "I would make the point that on new accessions, they are by unanimity so they don't happen unless everybody agrees. So you do have a real opportunity, irrespective of treaty change to insist on a different approach.

"I don't think the status quo really reflects what was originally put in place. It was meant to be about free movement to go and take up a job that you have already applied for. It was not about free movement for benefit tourism. It was not about free movement for people who don't have the means to support themselves. We do need to examine this. It is important we do that now."