In an interview with French daily Le Monde, Zapatero said, "France and Germany are the two decisive countries for the European construction and Spain should be there." He acknowledged that Spain has re-joined the European family after the departure of his predecessor Jose Maria Aznar, who had "one foot in Europe ... and one outside to slow it down." Zapatero applauded the 25 countries in Europe for being able to "adopt a Constitution, give up a part of their sovereignty and unite their economies."

The Spaniard is confident his people will vote for the European Constitution, saying, "the Spanish are convinced that Spain has the weight it deserves because, in a Europe of 25, the percentages and alliances will be different. There will be ample support for the Constitution." Despite this, he hinted that the language of the text could be revised to make it simpler to understand. "We will need a large translation effort, because the public language of the EU is far removed from good literature," he noted. (EUobserver.com)