“Association Agreement requires an approach that passes from the technical to the political”
The Young Christian Democrats have always been very attentive to European issues, for history and for the roles covered in the international arena. We want to express our appreciation for the public meeting organized by the Emma Rossi Association, held on the evening of Thursday 11 November at the Montelupo multipurpose room. A meeting entitled: “The Association Agreement with the European Union – where are we at”. The initiative saw the participation of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs Luca Beccari, the President of the Permanent Adviser Commission for Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Immigration, Security and Public Order and Information Paolo Rondelli and finally Michele Chiaruzzi Director of the Research Center for International Relations of the ‘University of San Marino. The purpose of the meeting was to “inform and update” the San Marino population on the developments of the negotiations relating to the Association Agreement with the EU that the Republic of San Marino, together with the Principality of Monaco and Andorra, has undertaken in March 2015. An evening that saw the unanimous speakers on the need for this agreement as soon as possible with the greatest possible agreement, in view of a country that needs to transform itself by revising its legislative model. A country that is facing an agreement with two other partners who, as Secretary Beccari reiterated, after the pandemic have really realized how fundamental it is not to be alone. A particular point of the evening catches the eye, the “change of pace” in the approach of Secretary Beccari, who underlining how Brexit, European Elections and Covid have slowed down the negotiation round with the Commission, did not stop the progress of relations friendship with individual European Parliamentarians, eventually founding a Friendship group which, in its first acts, allowed us, last July, to bring an amendment to the European Parliament that would allow small states, such as San Marino, Andorra, Monaco and the of the Vatican, to have the possibility of joint procurement in the pharmaceutical and vaccine sector and the Green Pass. This change of pace from a technical to a political one is proving fundamental for the Republic of San Marino, in placing at the center of the strategy also those who, like the parliamentarians of the Friendship Group, can be there to give voice to the needs of our country in Europe . The President of the Foreign Affairs Commission also dwelt on this, underlining how much the relations of individual parliamentarians and parties become central to a reality, ours which in history has distinguished itself at the diplomatic level for this very reason. As GDC we therefore think that the construction of transversal political relations is the real keystone in this Association process and here comes our daily commitment, with an international team that is enjoying numerous successes. We recall how during this year, San Marino had the opportunity to host in its territory the largest European youth political organization, the Youth of European People’s Party (YEPP), as part of the Conference which took place last 21 – 24 October at the Palace Hotel. An event presented by the GDCs (full members of this organization) and which saw the approval of the white paper, a document in which the GDCs expressed their desire to accelerate the process of concluding the negotiations relating to the Association of San Marino to the European Union and who saw among the participants the presence of authoritative speakers such as: Dubravka Šuica, Vice President of the European Commission, Roberta Metsola, Vice President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, former President of the European Parliament, Sven Simon, member of the European Parliament. Also in the current year, the organization, together with the Adenauer Foundation of the second SKILLS TRAINING of the European Democrat Students, was held, confirming how San Marino can be a training destination for European students and, for the question signed by 26 MEPs who asked to have signed the association contracts and to understand what hindered them, which saw as the first signatory the friend Massimiliano Salini of the PPE with whom we concluded the Political Training School last year. Concluding by underlining how fundamental is the work that the PDCS and the GDC are carrying out at the level of relations with the EPP. In fact, we believe that it is important to inform the San Marino population about the progress of the negotiations and any public developments with the EU in order to start a real debate on what kind of future we want.
cs GDC