The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday the signing ad referendum of the agreement between Spain and Andorra on cooperation in security and the fight against crime, as well as its referral to the Parliament and the manifestation of Spain’s consent to be bound by the aforementioned agreement.
The agreement, which has the status of an international treaty, responds to the concern of the two countries to cooperate in the fight against crime, especially organized crime, and to collaborate in the fight against criminal actions, particularly terrorism, crimes against life and physical integrity, illegal detention and kidnapping, crimes related to drug trafficking, human trafficking and illegal immigration, economic and tax crimes and new forms of crime.
To this end, the agreement provides Spain and Andorra with a legal tool to jointly combat these crimes and establishes the conditions for the exchange of information between the parties, guaranteeing the protection of confidentiality and the use of information under their respective national laws. The agreement also provides that, if necessary, the parties may establish a Joint Commission to develop and evaluate cooperation in security matters. The agreement includes, as an annex, a protocol for the technical development of police cooperation, which will allow the exchange of best practices and the strengthening of training.
The agreement was signed in Madrid on September 2, 2015 after several months of contacts between the competent authorities of Spain and Andorra. On the Spanish side, it was signed ad referendum by the then Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz, and on the Andorran side, it was signed by the then Minister of Justice and Interior of Andorra, and current head of government, Xavier Espot Zamora.
The approval of the agreement comes two weeks before King Philip V and Queen Letizia pay a state visit to Andorra. During the visit, which will take place on March 25 and 26 and will be the first of its kind by a King of Spain to the Principality, the King and Queen will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya. The visit will also take place less than a month before the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government is to be held in Andorra, scheduled for April 21 in a semi-presential manner and which the King will attend together with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
