EU: The French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, has lent Spain a hand in its fight to get voters to the polls for the first referendum on the European constitution.
German and Italian leaders, hit by flu, were forced to pull out of a rally in Barcelona although they sent messages of support.
Spanish media however made much of a photograph taken earlier in the day showing the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, laughing heartily at an event in Germany.
A German government spokesman called the comments malicious and said Mr Schröder had felt ill on Thursday night and during yesterday's event and that his absence from the Barcelona rally was in no way a snub to Spain.
Spaniards will be the first to vote on the constitution, on February 20th, which was approved by EU leaders last year after Spain's new Socialist Prime Minister, Mr José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, dropped demands for greater voting powers. Each nation has to ratify the charter.
Mr Chirac has urged Spaniards to show other Europeans the way.
Polls show Spaniards voting in favour of the constitution by some 51 per cent.
"I wish that the Spanish people will show the way in a dazzling manner, by taking part, en masse, in this poll," Mr Chirac said.
Both leaders made references to Europe's history of war and to a European social model they say is enshrined in the constitution.
Mr Zapatero urged people to vote "to make sure . . . that the 21st century is not a century of wars and dictatorships but of peace and liberty".
Mr Schröder and the Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, sent messages of support. The German leader said a Spanish Yes victory, with a high turnout and wide margin, would encourage other Europeans to back the charter.
Spaniards are broadly Europhile, due in part to the huge financial benefits the EU has brought Spain, but only 46 per cent said in the latest official survey they planned to vote.
Near the convention centre, up to 300 demonstrators gathered to protest against the charter. Police estimated crowds of 150 to 200.
The No campaign is weak and only about 6 per cent of voters are expected to reject the charter.
Critics of the charter, which include regional, nationalist and leftist parties, say the constitution is not pro-European enough and reject it because it does not enhance the status of regions within states such as Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital.