British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's “blueprint” for avoiding a repeat of the financial crisis was dismissed today as “European ideas wrapped in a British flag”.

Europe-wide supervision of banks and financial bodies could be on the cards under proposals today to provide an “early warning system” against future economic meltdowns.

BANK OF FRANCE Governor Jean-Claude Trichet went on trial yesterday in a decade-old banking scandal that could thwart his bid to become the next president of the European Central Bank.

A FRENCH magistrate plunged the future of Jean-Claude Trichet and the European Central Bank into disarray yesterday.