Chirac's nuclear policy speech draws fire across Europe

French president Jacques Chirac drew scorching criticism in Europe today for threatening a nuclear response to state-sponsored terrorism.

Chirac’s headline-grabbing comments in a speech yesterday sent a warning to countries such as Iran and sought to nip in the bud domestic debate about whether France still needed its expensive nuclear deterrent in the post-Cold War world.

The French leader, his second and probably final term nearing its end, laid out an updated doctrine for France’s military might for the 21st century amid the threat of terrorism.

In the broad address, Chirac warned unspecified “leaders of states that would use terrorist means against us” that they could face “a firm and fitting response”.

The speech sparked widespread criticism in the European media.

“Jacques Chirac is an idiot,” chided Belgian daily De Morgen in an editorial. “He lives in a time where France is no longer a world power, but he’s still acting as if prolonging a Napoleonic dynasty.”

Spain’s El Pais called the speech “radical and dangerous".