Els Microestats europeus davant la Unió Europea : el cas d'Andorra

Resum

This presentation is a résumé of the third book published by Victor Pou on the subject of Andorra and its international relations, specially dealing with the European Union (EU). His first book was published in 1986 about the impact for Andorra of Portugal and Spain joining the European Community. The second appeared in 1994 dealing with the effects for Andorra of the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The third appeared in 2002 on Andorra?s options in negotiating a new agreement or a set of new sectoral agreements with the EU, after the success of the first customs union agreement Andorra-EU signed in 1990 and in force since 1991.Published by Credit Andorrà, an Andorran bank, the book provides information for the current debate in Andorra about the nature of the new agreement or agreements to be signed with the EU. The different options are presented: membership to the EU, association, new commercial agreement, list of sectoral agreements, joining the European Economic Espace(EEE), or standing still. The explicit will of the Andorran government is to achieve a new set of more ambitious agreements with the EU. However the opinions contained in the book only represent the personal ones of the author, not his official position in the European Commission in Brussels. The first chapter talks of the evolution of the relations between Andorra and the EU. The second chapter deals with the progressive approximation process of Andorra to the EU. The author favours this progression without reaching full membership (asymptotic model), as full membership in the EU is not of interest for Andorra nor is it possible because Andorra does not fulfil some criteria for membership such as capacity to assume all the ?acquis communautaire? or institutional capabilities (Andorra does fulfil two other criteria: a democratic political regime and an advanced market economy).