French President Jacques Chirac warned today against unilateral US military action against Iraq, saying such decisions should be made only by the UN Security Council.
Mr Chirac, who avoided openly criticizing Washington, did not rule out the possibility of using force against Iraq, but said it should be a joint UN decision.
But in a major policy speech to French ambassadors, he said: "If Baghdad insists on refusing to allow the unconditional return of inspectors, it would be up to the Security Council alone to decide what measures to take."
UN inspectors were pulled out of Iraq in 1998 ahead of British and US bombing raids on Baghdad.
Mr Chirac said the unilateral use of force was "against France's vision of collective security, of co-operation between states and respect for the law and authority of the Security Council."
He stressed that a major priority of France's foreign policy was ensuring the safety of its people following last September's terrorist attacks on the United States, and the killing of 11 French citizens in a bomb attack in the Pakistani city of Karachi in May.
The president warned that the US anti-missile shield alone could not suffice against weapons of mass destruction. He suggested that the EU might make aid dependent on concrete nuclear non-proliferation commitments by what he identified as recalcitrant states.
The French leader also called on French diplomacy to encourage an enlarged and more dynamic EU and greater support by rich countries for the poorer.
He pleaded unreservedly for EU enlargement, urging France's EU partner-states to stick to schedules ensuring applicant countries, including the former Soviet bloc states Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, would join as planned by 2004.
He also recommended creation of two new EU posts - a President of the European Council of Ministers, the EU's top decision-making body - and the title of European Union Foreign Minister.
AFP