Jacques Chirac, French president, bowed out of what might prove his last European Union summit by launching a salvo at the US, warning that its plans to install missile defence bases in Europe could split the continent and provoke a fresh cold war.

In the most hostile remarks yet from a Nato ally about Washington's plans, Mr Chirac said Europe and the US needed to take account of Russia's concerns about the projected missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.