Slow growth in Europe is jeopardising the global economy, according to Gordon Brown.

In a hard-hitting article in Friday's FT, the chancellor claims that the world economy is fragile and that the United States is not only to blame for creating a current account deficit.

"It is the weakness of European Union growth that lies at the root of imbalances" in the world economy, he says.

Brown, who on Friday is attending an Ecofin summit in Brussels, calls for a new "sense of urgency" among policymakers.