By Toby Helm, EU Correspondent in Brussels

GORDON Brown, the Chancellor, last night failed to clinch a place for Britain in a new Euro-club for single currency members after France and Germany flatly rejected his demands that the United Kingdom be treated as an equal over economic policy after 1999. The rebuff followed a bruising battle between the 15 EU countries over how economic policy in the euro area will be determined.The currency will be launched in 13 months' time.

As a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels broke up without agreement, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French finance minister, accused Mr Brown of "sulking" over proposals to leave Britain out of a key new euro committee, EuroX. The French minister said the euro would be a private "marriage" in which outsiders would not be welcome. "Those in a marriage do not want anyone else in the bedroom," said Mr Strauss-Kahn. "Those who share the same money will have more intimate relations."

The exchanges came after Mr Brown had earlier issued a stark warning that the single currency could split Europe in two if non-members, including Britain, were locked out of talks on key economic matters after 1999. Leaving the meeting without giving a press conference, Mr Brown said that he had been fighting for British interests. Economic decisions, he insisted, should not be taken in "exclusive groups".

"If we are to solve Europe's problems such as low growth and unemployment we have got to do that by working together not through exclusive groups." Mr. Brown said. A fresh attempt to resolve the crisis will now be made at the full Luxembourg summit for heads of government at the end of next week. Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister, said that he hoped agreement could be reached at the summit but added: "No one will be able to stop EuroX going ahead."

The Chancellor's officials hinted that he would be prepared to bar other countries from using EU buildings for meetings unless the United Kingdom was admitted to all talks as an equal. The battle, at a meeting of the 15 EU finance ministers in Brussels, centred on French-led plans to set up an informal policy committee. France and Germany insist that single currency countries should be able to discuss sensitive issues such as the euro's exchange rate without the "outs" taking part.

But, in a tense five-hour session, Mr Brown demanded that Britain and other "out" countries should be admitted as full members of the EuroX club. With strong support from Sweden, Denmark and Greece, none of which will take part in EMU in the first wave, he told fellow ministers that EU countries should treat their economic policies as "a matter of common interest". Monetary union, he said, should be regarded as a work in progress in which all 15 countries wanted to be involved.

Officials confirmed that his message was meant as a warning that Europe risked splitting into rival camps if exclusive policy groups formed. But Germany, France and Italy led a powerful chorus of countries that flatly rejected the Chancellor's demands. They insisted that members of the euro zone had the full right to consider sensitive matters such as the euro's exchange rate policy among themselves.

Theo Waigel, the German finance minister, said: "You can't be both in and out. The others will be kept informed. No one will be able to stop these meetings happening." French officials stressed that, if Britain wanted to be included in talks about the euro, Paris would insist that it had to join the single currency beforehand.

A British official said: "We are standing firm in defence of British interests. We don't want some compromise. We want a full voice at the table." Mr Brown is worried that, if EuroX is set up for single-currency countries alone, such a group would become the real focus of economic power in the EU, draining influence away from meetings of the 15 finance ministers, known as Ecofin.