On 14 February 2022, the Commission adopted the addendum to the Communication completing San Marino path to become the tenth participating country of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR). Time to have a closer look at the newest member.
- 04 March 2022
San Marino is a close neighbour and partner of the EU and established relations in 1983. The inclusion to the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) was yet another step to foster its European integration and regional cooperation with neighbouring EU Member States and candidate countries and potential candidates.
In a statement, which was just published in Panorama Magazine, Luca Beccari, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of San Marino, stated:
“San Marino is of the opinion that in order to face today’s challenges, it cannot act alone. Indeed, for a small-sized state, the numerous implications of environmental degradation and climate change, for example, are too burdensome to be addressed on its own. In contrast, these consequences may be considered from a different perspective in a context of regional integration and cooperation in which the availability of common resources and capabilities may be essential to support an area of sustainable and balanced well-being and prosperity.”.
In fact, the cooperation framework will tie closer relations with the four EU Member States and five candidate countries and potential candidates for enhanced coordination and dialogue. With the possibility to open and extend EU policies in sectors like environment, connectivity, energy, transport or innovation, San Marino will be brought closer to the priorities of the European Union as the Western Balkan countries participating in the Strategy.
The inclusion comes also at the right time for San Marino to align its priorities to the EUSAIR and to mobilise national funding to carry out projects at macro-regional level, in cooperation with its new partners. In that context, San Marino will also join the Interreg IPA ADRION programme, which supports the governance of the EUSAIR and covers the same geographic area.
The request to join EUSAIR was put forward on 28 August 2020 to the Slovenian EUSAIR Presidency after San Marino had joined the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative as a first step. Warmly welcomed by the Adriatic and Ionian Council/EUSAIR Ministerial Meeting, it was set down in the Izola Declaration of 11 May 2021, only one month after the Commission completed the process to welcome North Macedonia as the first new participating country since the endorsement of the EUSAIR in 2014. In its conclusions of 18 November 2021, the Council of the European Union welcomed and accepted the request by the four EU member states participating in the EUSAIR, mandating the Commission to undertake all necessary steps for the inclusion.