The head of the Government of Andorra, Xavier Espot, has bet this Thursday on establishing migration quotas in the association agreement they have been negotiating with the EU since 2015, and has defended reaching an agreement similar to that of Liechtenstein: «That would suit us very well».
In a conference and lunch-colloquium organized by Barcelona Tribuna which was also attended by the Minister of Interior of the Generalitat, Joan Ignasi Elena, Espot has been «very confident» that the negotiations lead to an agreement of this type, and has specified that in the talks are already making calculations of annual quotas according to population growth.
Espot said that the agreement implies assuming the freedom of movement of people, goods, capital and services: they have already closed the terms in which the free movement of goods will be made, they are in the process of negotiating the free movement of people and services, and they still have to address the capital.
He also said that the stumbling blocks in the negotiation of the free movement and provision of services for people have been the migratory policy, for which he is betting on the Liechtenstein model, and also the monopoly of the Andorran public electricity and telecommunications operators.
Espot has celebrated that they have a pre-agreement for the electricity sector, and has recalled that in the EU there is a precedent of agreement with Corsica (France), which was allowed to maintain an exclusive electricity operator: «We have it guaranteed».
ROAMING IN ANDORRA As for telecommunications, he has maintained that it will be a key element in the negotiations, after which he has stressed that they will make the ‘roaming’ system disappear in Andorra.
Another hot point of the talks is the systematic control of people’s criminal records, which is one of Andorra’s demands, and Espot predicts that there will be an agreement because «the negotiations are well underway».
SPAIN’S EUROPEAN PRESIDENCY His intention is to sign this association agreement with the EU during Spain’s presidency of the EU Council, in the second half of 2023, and Espot has pledged to work intensely these months to have it closed by then.
As for the freedom of movement of capital, he said that they will accept that there are bank branches outside the Principality «as long as the Andorran ones are in a position to compete on equal terms», and predicted that this process will go through a long transition, since now he sees it as very embryonic.
RAILWAY CONNECTIONS Espot explained that Andorra’s railway connections with Spain are very complicated because they are a very costly project due to the orography of the terrain.
However, he does not rule out a project co-financed by his government, the Spanish government and the Generalitat de Catalunya, but admits that it will probably not be in the short term.
WINTER OG. Asked about the failure of the project of the Winter Olympic Games in the Pyrenees, he regretted that it has been a loss of opportunities for Andorra, but has ruled out pointing fingers, in reference to the differences between the Government of Aragon and the Generalitat on the shared candidacy.
The head of government has argued that their collaboration could only come «once the internal divergences are overcome», and added that it is a project that cannot be ruled out in the future, as it would mean improvements in some Pyrenean areas that are depressed, he said.
YOUTUBERS IN ANDORRA On the ‘youtubers’ who have settled in the country recently, Espot does not believe that particularly benefit Andorra, and are not promoting the arrival of these people.
«Andorra is much more than that. In recent years many people and families with diverse interests have come to reside here and have come less and less because of tax competitiveness,» he stressed.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)