talks for the EU agreement resumed in attendance
On May 5, 2022, the first post-Covid-19 negotiation session on the negotiation between the Republic of San Marino and the European Union to reach an association agreement took place at the Palazzo del Barleymont in Brussels. The meeting, the first to be held in person after the pandemic, meant a return to full normality and negotiation after two years. The San Marino delegation, led by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Luca Beccari, was made up of the Ambassador of San Marino to the European Union and officials of the European Affairs Directorate of the Foreign Affairs Department, as well as Prof. Roberto Baratta, Legal Advisor of the Government. The European counterpart was led by the Head of Unit Nicholas Von Lingen flanked by various officials responsible for the various issues on the agenda. Clara Martinez-Alberola, Principal Councilor in the General Secretariat of the European Commission, also participated. After months in which the meetings were held exclusively at a technical level and electronically, a modality that however allowed the negotiation to continue and to provisionally close even defeating the annex of the future Association Agreement, the session in question made it possible to deal with, at bilateral level, two important issues with relevant political aspects for both interlocutors: the freedom of establishment of individuals and the rules on state aid. In his initial considerations, the Secretary of State Beccari reiterated “the San Marino commitment to proceed decisively in this negotiation, the political and policy outlines of which will be used by San Marino to outline the future scenario within which to carry out the necessary internal reforms” . Beccari also said he was confident that the resumption of negotiations in the face-to-face mode will allow the parties to find the right synthesis capable of, on the one hand, the assumptions on which the entire negotiation process is based and, on the other, of the solutions more adequate to save the specificities of the Republic of San Marino, referred to in Declaration no. 3 to article 8 of the Treaty on European Union, where it is recognized precisely that “The Union will take into account the particular situation of small-sized countries that have specific relations of proximity with the Union”. After an interview and constructive debate in which the two delegations clearly explained their respective positions, the parties agreed to deepen the issues addressed since the sessions frank and constructive, undertaking to mutually provide supporting statistical data and proposals in order to continue the issues confrontation in a constructive way and without prejudice.
cs Foreign Secretariat
Copyright ©