The Italian Exterior Minister, Franco Frattini, said this week that at the European Council in Brussels, “We fought till the end to include a reference in the Preamble” of the recently approved European Constitution.

In statements reported by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Frattini revealed that this last attempt was to add only two words: “particularly Christian” in the phrase which mentions Europe’s “religious heritage,” but “we were met with insurmountable obstacles from Belgium, France and Finland.”