"Friends of the Constitutional Treaty: for a better Europe". This is the title that has been given to the meeting of the 18 EU countries, out of a total of 27, that so far have ratified the fundamental Charter signed in Rome in 2004. The French and Dutch votes against the Constitution in 2005 had stopped the process and since then the EU has been looking for a political way out to enforce the Constitution before the election for Parliament in Strasbourg in 2009. For this reason, "on the initiative of Spain and Luxembourg" countries that have approved the Charter by public poll , a summit has been convened at the Casa de America, in Madrid, for 26th January. "The purpose of this meeting specifies a release from the two Governments is to help the German presidency of the EU to support the debate on the Constitutional Treaty and answer for the commitment taken by two thirds of the member states in support of the substance of the Treaty". The ministers or secretaries of state for EU affairs of Spain, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Romania have been invited to the meeting. In addition, the meeting will be attended by Portuguese and Irish delegates. The meeting will be introduced by a speech from the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Miguel Angel Moratinos.
