San Marino in the EU: integration could be completed within this year
«The broadest and most topical association agreement ever signed by the European Union, also provides the partecipation to the single market and more generally it will guarantee this State a wide range of political and economic opportunities”. The Vice-President of the European Commission was welcomed in San Marino on the morning of Friday 20 January Maros Sefcovic today reiterated the European Union’s intention to close the negotiations for the association of the small state with Brussels by 2023 (entry as a member country is not considered strategic due to the small size of the territory and the few residents, 33,000 such as to make it difficult to hypothesize a turn of presidency of the council or access to the right of veto). Sefcovic met the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs as part of a bilateral summit Luca Beccari.
The first participation in an assembly
«The European Commission is ready to help San Marino in this common goal. Especially after the sanctions applied again against Russia and after welcoming the Ukrainian refugees, the European Union is grateful to you,” Sefcovic said. “Also for this reason, that of sanctions against Russia, we invited San Marino to participate in the meeting of the EU political community scheduled for June in Moldova. A participation hitherto unpublished». To ratify the association between San Marino and the European Union it will not be necessary – as explained today by the vice president of the commission – for individual countries to vote in favor or not. “If the negotiations are successful by 2023, they could be closed within three months the procedure”.
Single market and reciprocal freedom of enterprise
In recent years, at least since 2015 when the negotiations were started, there has been a lot of talk about the necessary procedure at the pass that both the EU and the San Marino government would like to conclude within a few months. But what are the tangible changes also to the resident population which would be introduced with the association in Brussels? Certainly the small Republic would fully enter the single European market. In particular, forty years after the first agreements between Titan and the European Community and 33 years after the start of the free movement of goods, the association would bring the green light to the “reciprocal” freedom of establishment (which together with the freedom to provide services guarantees the mobility of businesses and professionals within the European Union). «It means – explained Luca Beccari – that European companies will be able to do larger investments in San Marino and vice versa. In summary, while with Italy there are already several concessions thanks to bilateral agreements, with the rest of the countries this is currently not the case. We are considered a third country. More generally, with the association, San Marino companies will act in compliance with the European standard and the country will offer European services».
Students and new opportunities abroad
Many innovations are planned for the student population. Currently San Marino citizens do not have ample opportunities study abroad in European countries. «Basically – explains Beccari – the possibility of being able to go abroad for an internship, to study but also to work for the people of San Marino is the same as in “third” countries compared to the Union». A gap that the association with the EU would fill. “Our young people also see in experience abroad an opportunity like it happens elsewhere».
The newsletter of the Corriere di Bologna
If you want to stay updated on the news of Bologna and Emilia-Romagna, subscribe to the free newsletter Courier of Bologna. It arrives every day directly in your inbox at 12. Just click here.
January 20, 2023 (change January 20, 2023 | 6:48 pm)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED