---
title: "Andorra and San Marino Sign Their EU Single Market Deal: What Happens Next"
description: "Andorra and San Marino signed an EU association agreement for single market access. Next: Parliament consent, San Marino's vote and Andorra's referendum."
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-10-20T13:28:04.908Z
updated: 2026-10-20T13:50:54.309Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/andorra-san-marino-eu-association-agreement
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/andorra-san-marino-eu-signing.webp
categories: EU Focus
content_type: News
region: Europe
publication: Sovereign Magazine
---

Andorra and San Marino [signed an association agreement](https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_2182) with the European Union in Brussels on Monday that would give both countries access to the EU single market on terms comparable to those Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein have through the European Economic Area, once it is ratified.

Andorra's head of government, Xavier Espot, San Marino's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Luca Beccari, and EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič signed the 2,460-page text at the European Commission's Berlaymont building, more than 11 years after negotiations opened in March 2015. Neither country becomes an EU member or [gains a vote in EU institutions](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/canada-eu-associate-membership). Both already use the euro under monetary agreements with the EU, whose amendments to fit the new deal were also signed on Monday, and both have customs unions with the EU that the agreement incorporates.

The signature does not bring the agreement into force. It now goes to the European Parliament for consent, to San Marino's parliament for ratification and, in Andorra, to a referendum before the Andorran parliament can vote on it. The processes run on different timetables, and San Marino could start applying parts of the agreement next year while Andorra is still preparing its vote.

## Single Market Access Comes in Stages, With Up to 15 Years for Financial Services

> "The level of market access foreseen will be comparable to that of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein under the Agreement on the European Economic Area."
> — Maroš Šefčovič, EU Trade Commissioner

Once in force, the agreement extends the single market's freedoms for goods, services, capital and people to the two countries, which [take on EU single market rules and follow them as they change](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/carney-canada-eu-associate-status-trump-tariffs). Goods already move between them and the EU under the customs unions, and the Andorran government's 2024 summary of the text says its union will be extended to agricultural products. The same summary lists transition periods of three years for the free provision of services, seven years for telecoms and 30 years for phasing out Andorra's customs duties on tobacco from the EU.

Banks, insurers, investment funds and securities firms get access gradually, over no more than 15 years, and only after the EU has assessed how well each country regulates and supervises them. Disputes go first to a joint committee of the two sides, and if the committee has not resolved one within six months of its first meeting, either side can take it to the Court of Justice of the EU.

The EU exported €1.88 billion of goods to Andorra in 2025 and imported €122 million, according to Commission figures, and its goods trade with San Marino came to €445 million. Andorra had 89,058 residents at the end of 2025 and San Marino 34,172.

## Andorra and San Marino Keep Their Own Taxes and Residence Quotas

Andorrans and Sammarinese will be able to live and work in the EU. EU citizens moving to Andorra will come under an immigration system based on quotas, including one for seasonal workers staying less than 12 months, with checks on criminal records. According to the Andorran government's summary, the new system starts two years after the agreement enters into force, and both sides review it every ten years. San Marino will also issue residence permits to EU citizens under a quota, with a first review ten years after entry into force.

Taxes stay outside the agreement, so both countries keep their own tax systems and rates, though they commit to cooperating with the EU on tax transparency, the exchange of information and tax avoidance. Both governments say neither country will pay into the EU budget, and neither joins the Schengen area.

Monaco opened negotiations alongside the two countries in 2015, but it and the Commission suspended the talks in September 2023, after both found that the Commission's negotiating directives could not be reconciled with limits Monaco had set, aimed in particular at keeping living, working and housing conditions for its nationals unchanged.

## The European Parliament's Consent Vote Is Provisionally Set for January 2027

The Council of the EU will now ask the European Parliament for its consent, which must come before EU governments can formally conclude the agreement on the EU's behalf. The Parliament's foreign affairs committee handles the file, with Croatian MEP Željana Zovko of the European People's Party as rapporteur, and the Parliament's legislative record gives 18 January 2027 as an indicative date for the plenary vote. MEPs have already backed the agreement once, passing an interim resolution on it in February by 552 votes to 24, with 75 abstentions.

The EU and its member states form one party to the agreement, so each of the 27 member states must also ratify it before it enters into force in full. EU governments authorised provisional application of parts of it in July, when they approved the signature, on proposals the Commission had made in April 2024. Šefčovič said on Monday: "We are committed to completing our internal procedures swiftly to move towards provisional application."

## San Marino Sends the Agreement to Parliament, With No Referendum Planned

Beccari has said the agreement will go first to parliament's foreign affairs committee and then to the Great and General Council, San Marino's parliament, for ratification, Il Resto del Carlino reported in September. The paper said the aim was to have the treaty operating in January or February 2027. No referendum is planned, and in a debate in July, members of the governing majority dismissed calls from the opposition party Domani Motus Liberi for a confirmatory referendum. Fabio Righi, one of the party's members, said it was not opposed to European integration, only to the way the talks had been conducted.

Beccari called the signing "a milestone and a starting point for a new chapter", the result of work "supported by four Sammarinese governments". After 40 years of relations, he said, it makes San Marino a "partner" of the EU "and no longer just a friend".

## Andorra Puts the Agreement to a Referendum Before Its Parliament Votes

In Andorra the referendum comes after the European Parliament has given its consent, [the government said on Monday](https://www.govern.ad/ca/w/andorra-signa-l-acord-d-associacio-amb-la-unio-europea-i-obre-la-fase-de-ratificacio). The vote is formally consultative, but the government will treat the result as politically binding. Only if voters approve does the text go to the General Council, Andorra's parliament, where it needs the support of two thirds of its members. Until then the agreement neither enters into force nor applies provisionally in Andorra, though the EU and San Marino can continue with their own procedures without waiting for the Andorran vote.

"For Andorra, the institutional and democratic sequence is especially important," Espot said in Brussels, adding that successive governments and the members of Andorra's State Pact on the agreement had kept their commitment to put the final text to a referendum whose result "we will consider politically binding". No date has been set. Espot said the timetable would take account of the EU's procedures and of Andorra's general elections, due in spring 2027.

Espot described the agreement as "the start of a new political relationship, with more participation in the internal market, more responsibilities" and "a new opportunity to show that small countries can be reliable, constructive and committed European partners". He said it would help Andorra diversify its economy, strengthen legal certainty and create new opportunities for companies and citizens.

## FAQ

**Q: Is Andorra a member of the EU?**
No, and the association agreement signed on 19 October does not make it one. Once in force, it would give Andorra single market access comparable to that of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, but no vote in EU institutions, and both governments say neither country will pay into the EU budget. Andorra already uses the euro under a monetary agreement with the EU and has a customs union with it.

**Q: Can I live in Andorra with an EU passport?**
Not without an Andorran residence permit, and that stays the case under the agreement. Andorra keeps a quota system with checks on criminal records, under a new arrangement that starts two years after the agreement enters into force and is reviewed every ten years. Andorrans, for their part, will be able to live and work in the EU.

**Q: Is Andorra in the Schengen zone?**
No, and the agreement does not change that, because border controls stay outside it. Travellers enter Andorra by road from France or Spain, both Schengen members. San Marino is not a Schengen member either, though its border with Italy is open.