“We are more than friends now: we are partners.” This is how Luca Beccari, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, greeted the signing of the association agreement between San Marino and the European Union. In his address in Brussels, he traced the work that began almost eleven years ago and described the signing as the beginning of a new phase in relations with European institutions.
Beccari highlighted the continuity of San Marino’s commitment across four legislatures and four governments, the joint efforts with Andorra, and the work of the negotiators. He also announced that negotiations on a further agreement concerning border management have been concluded. His full remarks follow below.
Almost eleven years to reach the signing
“It is truly a great pleasure and a great honour to be here today, at the conclusion of a journey, as the Commissioners and the Prime Minister of Andorra, my friend Xavier Espot, have recalled. A journey that began almost eleven years ago, when what would become the fruit of this work had yet to take shape.
We have always negotiated in the spirit and with the determination to achieve greater integration of San Marino and Andorra into the European single market, seeking to reconcile the technical complexity that this sometimes entailed with the will to build a framework of structured relations and a level of partnership that, with this agreement, we finally achieve in full.”
“San Marino has never stopped feeling European”
“San Marino is a country with a thousand-year history, one that has survived the many upheavals of the past while preserving its sovereignty and independence without ever rejecting dialogue with other nations.
For many years, San Marino’s neighbourhood was represented mainly by Italy and, before the Kingdom of Italy, by the surrounding states. Then Europe took shape, and throughout the development of the European Union, San Marino has never stopped feeling European and wanting to be part of this family, even as a third country.
It does not matter in what guise we enter, but rather the will to be part of a family with which we share ideals, values and strategies — as well as, at times, the need to defend ourselves from threats and face the challenges of our era.”
The monetary convention and the journey with Andorra
“The history of relations between San Marino and the European Union goes back a long way and is built on important agreements. The monetary convention, which we have updated today to bring it into line with this agreement, has certainly been an important training ground for San Marino.
As Commissioner Dombrovskis rightly said, we are not starting from scratch: that agreement helped launch a process of applying rules consistent with European standards, while taking into account the particular characteristics of San Marino and, of course, of Andorra as well.
We undertook this negotiation together with our friends from Andorra, sharing every stage of the long journey, comparing notes, exchanging ideas, and managing to reconcile the differences between our two realities.
On the other side, we always found a Commission willing to engage in dialogue and to fully honour the mandate it received back in 2015 from the European Council: to achieve greater integration of San Marino and Andorra into the single market and to bring relations to a new level.”
“The starting point of a new chapter”
“Today, then, we reach what might be called a milestone in our relations.
As I always like to say, we do not see this agreement as a finish line, but as the starting point of a new chapter in our relations, which I am certain will not stop here and will continue to develop along new paths as well.
In parallel, we have already concluded negotiations on another important agreement, concerning border management, and we continue to engage on all the areas that require our attention.”
Thanks to the European institutions
“Allow me to thank everyone who made it possible to reach this moment. I begin with Commissioner Šefčovič, whose outstanding leadership gave real momentum to the negotiations and allowed us to bring to a close, in truly record time, a process that had been under way for a long time.
I thank the entire Commission and all its officials, who worked over the years — and continued to do so right up to the final stretch — to create the conditions for this agreement to be approved by the Council.
We also thank all the political groups in the European Parliament who have always supported this important agreement, as well as the Council and all the Member States.
We have a framework of structured relations with each of the twenty-seven Member States, and I must say that we never sensed any opposition to achieving this important goal.
We thank our Andorran partners and friends for sharing this journey with us and for helping us reach this milestone.”
The work of San Marino’s negotiators
“On San Marino’s side, allow me first of all to thank those who worked on this agreement over the years: all the technical experts, officials and diplomats who, behind the scenes, made possible the technical solutions needed to finalise the text.”
“Four legislatures and four different governments”
“I also thank all my predecessors. This is a result that San Marino has achieved thanks to a consistent line of continuity maintained on this goal across four legislatures and by four different governments.
I thank San Marino’s political forces, the social partners and the business associations, who never failed to support the government’s work throughout this process.
Today, after forty years of relations built on friendship, trust and shared goals, we are more than friends now: we are partners, and we move forward together along this path. Thank you.”
