Spain Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos argued for an expanded European constitution in his opening statement at the “Friends of the EU Constitution” summit that got under way in Madrid Friday. The summit is only open to delegates from the 18 countries that already have ratified the constitution, as well as delegates from Ireland and Portugal, where ratification is strongly supported and seems likely, and seeks to find ways to convince countries that have not ratified the constitution to do so. Moratinos advocated a more comprehensive constitution that could address topics such as immigration, climate change, and defense.

While most summit delegates argued against modifying the constitution, others agreed with Moratinos, and said that the current text is at the threshold for being so minimalist that any further reductions would destroy the worth of the document entirely. Of the countries that have not ratified the current text, several have advocated significant reductions.