EU-president Herman Van Rompuy: San Marino wil relatie met EU verder ontwikkelen (en)

Statement by Herman Van Rompuy

President of the European Council

following his meeting with Antonella Mularoni

Secretary of State for Foreign and Political Affairs in San Marino

Today, I was honoured to meet Ms Antonella Mularoni, Secretary of State representing the Government of San Marino. This follows my earlier meetings with the Prime Minister of Andorra and Monaco's representatives.

San Marino is one of the countries seeking closer relations with the European Union. This is natural, given San Marino's location in the heart of Europe, its strong European identity and long European history.

Ms. Mularoni and I had an exchange of views on relations between the EU and countries with small territorial dimension. Taking into account that in San Marino, there is a strong support among the political parties and in the population and with the general public for further strengthening the relation with the EU, we discussed our future relationship and our future cooperation.

The EU, on its part, will continue its reflection as how to best develop our relations - not just with San Marino, but also with Andorra and Monaco. The EU institutions are exploring different options, which might include possible steps on further integration into the European Union and especially the EU's Internal Market and a possible new institutional framework. In this context, I wish to thank Ms. Mularoni for bringing San Marino's views to my attention.

Finally, I expressed my appreciation for San Marino’s support in aligning itself with EU positions in international fora, especially in the United Nations.