Andorra has taken no step back on the Association Agreement, nor does it have any intention of dragging out the signing timeline. Luca Beccari addressed the Foreign Affairs Committee to clear up speculation that has circulated in recent weeks and, in the same session, also revisited the recent Icelandic referendum and the interpretations given to it.
On the Andorran front, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs reported having spoken with the Principality’s Prime Minister that very morning. The timeline remains the one set out by San Marino: signing between the end of September and the first half of October, with the latter window currently appearing more likely.
“Among other things, I spoke with Andorra’s Prime Minister again this morning, and there is no desire or intention on Andorra’s part to drag things out or push the signing date further ahead,” Beccari explained, also dismissing accounts of possible schedule changes linked to international commitments in the coming weeks. “Things stand as I have told you: either we sign at the end of September or in the first half of October.”
Andorra, the Secretary acknowledged, is nonetheless going through a particular political phase, with its government approaching the end of its mandate, an election campaign drawing closer, and domestic matters tied to the referendum. These circumstances may affect the scheduling, but at present they do not call into question the path toward signing.
Beccari then addressed the Iceland case, challenging the interpretation that the recent referendum represented a rejection of the relationship with Europe. The key point, according to the Secretary, is to distinguish between joining the European Union and participating in the European Economic Area.
“For those who may not remember, Iceland is already part of the European Economic Area and already has an agreement that is practically identical to the one we are about to sign,” he stressed. Iceland, therefore, chose not to move toward EU membership, but not to abandon the economic integration framework it is already part of.
“It’s one thing to say that a country is weighing the inadvisability of a step such as accession, and quite another to say that Iceland has said no to Europe, making it seem as though, like England, it is leaving this framework altogether — which is not the case,” Beccari added.
For San Marino, meanwhile, the intention remains to complete the signing phase within the planned timeframe, so as to proceed with ratification and aim for provisional application of the Agreement in the first weeks or months of 2027. Any slippage beyond mid-October would become a problem for the Republic, but for Beccari this scenario is not, at present, on the table.
