Riba challenges Escalé to prove the EU agreement could drive up housing costs — and Escalé responds with the Government’s own study
The impact study warns that the Association Agreement “could put additional pressure” on Andorra’s property market
The Secretary of State for Relations with the European Union, Landry Riba, has challenged opposition leader and Concòrdia president Cerni Escalé to demonstrate, with “figures, data and technical rigour”, that the Association Agreement could drive up housing costs and accelerate Andorra’s growth.
The leader of Concòrdia’s parliamentary group responded by citing the Government’s own commissioned impact study, which explicitly acknowledges that the agreement could put additional pressure on the housing market.
The exchange followed Escalé’s warnings about the potential consequences of the Association Agreement with the EU for the country’s growth and an already strained property market.
Riba directly challenged the Concòrdia leader to substantiate those claims.
“Cerni, if you can demonstrate that the agreement will drive up housing prices and accelerate growth, say so. Do it. With figures, with data, with technical and political rigour, with robust models. Otherwise, we are dealing with hypotheses and the rhetoric of fear,” the Secretary of State said.
Escalé responded by attaching a screenshot from the impact study on the Association Agreement commissioned by the Government of Andorra, specifically the passage examining its potential consequences for the property market.
Estudi d’impacte del Govern d’Andorra. Pàgina 321. pic.twitter.com/HSkKVTK68S
— Cerni Escalé (@CerniEscale) September 1, 2026
The Government’s own study acknowledges the risk
The document explicitly states that the Association Agreement could put additional pressure on Andorra’s housing market.
“Clearly, the Association Agreement could put additional pressure on Andorra’s already strained housing market,” the study states.
The analysis links this potential effect to the increase in capital mobility and investment that the new framework for relations with the European Union could bring.
“Indeed, the data on capital mobility and investment examined in section 4.1.5 point in this direction, and some of this investment — potentially a substantial share — could well flow into the property market,” the document continues.
Escalé thus answered Riba’s demand for technical evidence by drawing on a study commissioned by the Government itself.
A fresh clash over the agreement’s consequences
The report does not state that higher housing costs are an inevitable consequence of the Association Agreement. It does, however, explicitly identify the risk of additional pressure on a market it already considers strained.
It also suggests that some of the investment resulting from greater capital mobility could flow into the property sector, potentially accounting for a substantial share.
The exchange between Riba and Escalé once again puts the economic and demographic consequences of the Association Agreement in the spotlight, this time with the Government’s own impact study serving as evidence in the political debate.
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