There hasn't been any firmware updates that can stop Freeloader, only the US Wii's have the latest Wii Firmware loaded (not active since they aren't using it) if you have your system fully up-to-date, and that one can stop Freeloader - but , I repeat, it's not being used yet

Double boot the freeloader the first time you play and no it does nothing permanent to the Wii.

Hmm, I live in Europe too, and I actually bought an import copy of Brawl along with a Freeloader myself. I had the exact same problem, when I loaded the Freeloader disc I got this update, then I tried to load Brawl but it said the disc couldn't be read. And I even loaded the Freeloader disc twice, just like the manual said. So I just tried a few more times, and after a couple of tries, it worked. :) I haven't had the chance to actually play more than about 5 minutes of the game though, because I've been far too busy at college.

Note that you have to set the screen output to either 60Hz or 480p for the game to run, older 50Hz tvs usually won't run the game, even if it's loaded correctly.

That sucks dude, hope you get sorted it out. I also must advocate comments from all those people that got a freeloader and imported. So what if we get Mario Kart - we don't want it we want Brawl, Brawl is the only reason I still have a Wii. I had always resisted temptation when it came to importing but NoE has tried my paintence too much and I imported it yesterday. I recommend all europeans go and import it, then mybe NoE will stop fucking about and treat us the same as you americans.

This guy ought to help ya out witht this problem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0ZK2mv0gYU

Hey, what Freeloader are you using? If it's from Datel ( this one: http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/94755/wii%20freeloader_qjpreviewth.gif ) it was blocked by a firmware update a long time ago.