«There will be a huge amount to do». That is the phrase with which Matteo Rossi (PSD), speaking in the Foreign Affairs Committee, looked ahead to the phase that will open once the Association Agreement with the European Union is signed. Rossi described the signing as a historic moment for the PSD, while stressing that from that point on San Marino will have to tackle a long series of obligations and decisions.
Among the files highlighted by the councillor are the banking and financial sector, the “clarifying addendum”, tax harmonisation, VAT and T2, as well as the need to identify a tool for managing the transposition of the vast body of rules set out in the acquis communautaire. Rossi also addressed the Council’s rules of procedure and the dialogue between majority and opposition.
Below is the full statement by Matteo Rossi (PSD), reproduced without changes.
“I too want to thank Secretary Beccari for his thorough and precise update on this final stage of the long-awaited path toward the Association Agreement with the European Union, which now finally has a timeframe within which we can clearly picture the word ‘signing’. Between the end of September and the beginning of October, we’ll be there, and it almost feels like a dream — in inverted commas, because we have truly been through a terrible year, marked by every kind of setback. It felt like continually drawing the ‘unforeseen circumstances’ card in Monopoly, and more than once we had the sense that, for reasons that were never entirely clear, this process was being sabotaged in every possible way. Naturally, we are absolutely delighted. For us in the PSD, European integration is almost one of the founding reasons behind our party: San Marino looking beyond its own borders, the European flag which, incidentally, also appears in our logo. I don’t need to stress how historic this step is for us. But now we are projected toward another phase. The workload for transposing the acquis will be very substantial, and we will need to start entering the realm of fundamental choices. Phase two will begin, as the Secretary said, with the requirements set out in the Agreement, and therefore with the establishment of the various committees, including the parliamentary one. Beyond the technical committees that will deal with individual issues, however, there are some important knots that we will need to untie, and that will keep us busy over the coming years — hopefully not too many, not out of political positioning or personal vision, but because of the country’s clearly stated needs, which call for faster processes. I’m thinking, for example, of the entire banking and financial system. There will be banking issues to address, and this will require commitment not only from politics but also from the Central Bank. We hope to achieve results swiftly. Then there is the whole matter of the ‘clarifying addendum’, which in our view must be taken up again and pushed through decisively, because it was in fact the factor that allowed almost the entire situation to be unblocked, and we have been carrying it forward for what feels like an eternity. There will also be the issue of fiscal harmonisation — indirect taxation and VAT — which is also mentioned in the current majority’s government programme and is one of this Government’s objectives. This will clearly become even more urgent once the Association Agreement is signed. We know how much manufacturing contributes to State revenue, and we know very well how important certain reforms are for those who work in that sector and, more broadly, for anyone doing business. Then there is the T2 issue, also mentioned by Secretary Beccari when he spoke about the various committees. That too will be an extremely important matter to resolve. I say this not to diminish the significance of an event that leaves us all extremely pleased, but to bring us back to a realistic outlook: there will be an enormous amount to do. We fully agree with the proposal that the Secretary and the majority are working on, aimed at finding a way to transpose the vast body of rules required by the acquis. Incidentally, in the various discussions held in recent months, we repeatedly tried to find common ground, a workable synthesis, and we are pleased that we are almost there. I understand perfectly well the positions of our colleagues in the opposition, and I understand that opposition must be carried out, but here it is simply a matter of finding a way to avoid essentially spending the next several years stuck on this issue: a practical, reasonable and balanced tool. No one is being excluded, nor is anything untoward being attempted. We are simply working on a tool that does not currently exist within our legal system but that we all need. I will close with the matter of the Council’s rules of procedure and, therefore, the need to find a landing point for transposing the acquis. I want to stress that we will reach the second reading of the rules of procedure in this Council. I believe that we, as the majority, have opened up dialogue and discussion on several occasions. The opposition came to the table in the manner that it did — unfortunately not with the attitude of those wishing to make a genuine contribution. Within the majority, we have done our own reflecting and are arriving at a proposal that is certainly an improvement, because between the first and second reading we felt it was our duty to make improvements. Today I believe we are doing excellent work, and so I reject the provocations and political point-scoring aimed at us. I repeat, that’s part of the game, but it would have been nice if, instead of resorting to political posturing, you had come to the table: we could have found accommodations that would have worked well for everyone.”
