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TEIN Annual Conference the Effects of the COVID 19 Crisis on the Cross-Border Cooperation Between France, Spain and Andorra

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TEIN Annual Conference the Effects of the COVID 19 Crisis on the Cross-Border Cooperation Between France, Spain and Andorra TEIN Annual Conference The effects of the COVID 19 crisis on the cross-border cooperation between France, Spain and Andorra Online event, Friday 13 November 2020 Organised by the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, Spain Andorra: international challenges and opportunities Presentation by Maria Ubach i Font, Minister of Foreign Affairs Andorra Ladies and gentlemen, First of all, I would like to thank the Transfrontier Euro Institut Network for inviting Andorra to its Annual Conference. It is an honour for me to introduce my country, the Principality of Andorra, to this renowned institution. Please allow me to make a quick presentation about Andorra, then how our Government has managed the Covid-19 health crisis and finally, I will talk about the major challenges of my country. I- Brief introduction to Andorra’s reality I would like first to introduce to you our small and old country by giving a short description on it, and some main figures. Andorra is located between France and Spain in the Pyrenees from 180 km from Toulouse and 180 Km from Barcelona. Andorra is a parliamentary co-principality. The only country in the world with 2 Heads of State who represent, jointly and indivisibly, the people of Andorra. They are the symbol and guarantee of Andorra’s independence. At the present time, our Coprinces are Mr. Joan Enric Vives, Bishop of Urgell, and Mr. Emmanuel Macron, president of the French Republic. The history of Andorra as a sovereign country is a long path. In 1278 the first Pariatge, an agreement signed between the bishop of Urgell and the count of Foix that shaped Andorra as an independent and neutral country. We celebrated last year the 600th anniversary of the Consell de la Terra -the Land’s Council - one of the oldest European parliaments which has been the highest expression of our self-government since 1419. In 1981, the first Andorran executive council was created. On 14th of March 1993, the people of Andorra adopted its first Constitution. Therefore, our Principality became a state fully recognized and governed by the rule of law and thus started to participate in the international scene, through the creation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The General Council, which is the current name of our Parliament, exercises the legislative power, approves the budget of the State and controls the Government’s political action . It consists of one chamber composed by 28 members. The country is divided into 7 local administrative divisions known as “parishes” managed by its own town halls. The territory of the Principality of Andorra covers an area of 468 square kilometres (Luxemburg, for instance, is 5,5 biggest than Andorra) and has an average altitude of 2000 meters. Due to its particular geography and location, only 8 to 10%1 of its surface is urbanized and cultivated; 90% is covered by forests, lakes, rivers and mountains. Andorra’s population is 77.543 inhabitants (2019). The Andorran people account for 36.700, followed by Spanish citizens (18.700), Portuguese citizens (9.200), French citizens (3.200) and other nationalities. In total there are approximately 100 different nationalities. The official language is Catalan. However, Spanish and French are also widely used. Andorra is a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, of the Iberoamerican Conference and an observer member of the Community of Portuguese Language Speaking countries. Andorra’s economic activity centres mostly on services. Tourism and commerce are the main pillars of Andorra’s economy; together with their connected activities, they account for more than 45% on our GDP2. Before the pandemic, tourism was bringing nearly 8 million visitors per year. Foreign trade is very important to the Andorran economic activities: the strong domestic and foreign demand and the relatively low weighting of Andorran industry leads to a high trade deficit and a very low export coverage ratio3. Another strategic area for Andorran economy is the financial sector; with the banking system at its core, it contributes to the Andorran GDP with about 21%. The first decade after the Constitution, we focused on implementing institutional reforms, such as the creation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that didn’t exist before 1993, because the Coprinces –and not the Andorran Government- were in charge of the international affairs. 1 Current projections would allow building land to be extended up to 45 square kilometers. 2 GDP 2016 = 2.590 millions €; GDP 2016 per capita = 35.400 € 3 Imports of goods 2016: 1.300 millions €; Exports of goods 2016: 91 millions €. Once the institutional and political system that derives from the Constitution was fully implemented, we focused on economic reforms. Andorra is something more than a remain of the past; it’s an open country, committed to the present and willing to share the future’s challenges and opportunities. The Andorran Government has been proactive in the international finances. Since 2009 Andorra is committed to following the international standards in tax cooperation: the Government has signed tax information exchange agreements, doble taxation agreements and cooperates closely with the UE, the Global Tax Forum of the OCDE. Moreover, on the 26 October this year, Andorra became member state of the International Monetary Fund. This economic and fiscal reforms allow us to open our economy, by having access to new markets, requesting the Level Playing Field and also developing the Economic Agency Actua Program in order to promote foreign investments in Andorra. The Andorran Government has been proactive in the fight against climate change. Negative effect of the climate change and global warming are also visible in Andorra. That is why our Government is fully committed to fight against climate change through concrete actions. In this sense, the Andorran constitution in 1993 was a pioneer by including the right to the environment as a citizen’s right and therefore as an obligation for the public authorities. We have to stress that we align our domestic reforms with the international strategy. The fight against climate change is an essential pillar of the multilateral structure and Andorra works relentlessly to fulfil the commitments of the Paris Agreement. Andorra is proactive in the education sector. Andorra is proud to have a rich, diverse, integrating state education system available for all citizens. A system in which families can opt for Andorran, Spanish or French education, all of them promoting democratic values in order to prepares our young people to become committed and supportive citizens of the world. In that sense, Andorra promotes the Education for citizenship through a strong cooperation with the Council of Europe. Important efforts have been carried out in Andorra to introduce human rights and democratic values as a part of the academic curriculum of our children and young people. All these actions are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals Andorra is proactive from the social perspective. One of the works carried by Andorra over the last years has been to prepare a White Paper on Equality that is the basis to implement transversal actions in favour of inclusion from the public sector as well as from the private sector. This white paper has led to an Equality Act that is a tool to eradicate any situation of discrimination. II- Andorra and the COVID-19 First of all, this crisis confirmed our fragility and our dependence on our two neighbours. The restriction of the mobility in France and Spain during the first wave brought a negative consequence for Andorra as far as tourism was totally stopped from the 15 March till the end of May. Only cross-border workers and people with a health emergency who needed to go to the hospitals in Toulouse or Barcelona could travel. The management of this situation was absolutely complex. In that context we were in permanent contact with the Spanish and French authorities. In recent history such a situation had never happened in Andorra. At the beginning of the health crisis, we had to find medical products as masks or respirators. In that sense we received the support of the French authorities, who provided us with masks and offered the possibility to transfer patients with Covid to the Hospital of Foix in Ariège (around 100 km from Andorra). We also treated dialysis patients from La Seu d’Urgell (city in Spain-around 20 km from the border) in the Andorran Hospital. Since some of the medical professionals from the only hospital we have in Andorra got infected with COVID-19, we needed to find support in order to cope with the health crisis. In that sense, we established a cooperation agreement with Cuba, thus resulting in 35 health professionals being sent to Andorra. We had also to manage the return of Andorran citizens and residents who were abroad, located in different places of the globe. The Andorran economy depends on the tourist sector to such an extent that more than 45% of our GDP is linked to tourist activities. The Government took measures to compensate for the loss of income experienced by both salaried workers and self-employed businesspeople who were bearing the brunt of the lockdown and the restrictions on the movement of people and which consequently affected the movement of tourists as well. Three laws were enacted within the framework of an extreme emergency procedure and the purpose of these laws was to introduce exceptional measures to help offset the consequences that the health crisis had for individuals and for companies. These laws were based on the principles of solidarity and co-responsibility. Prior to the health crisis, the government of Andorra was in a healthy financial situation. Indeed, public debt represented only 34% of GDP.
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