EDITORIAL | Who is right?
Those who say the Association Agreement (AA) will result in a minimum quota of around 300 new long-term residence permits for economically active people? Or those who say this minimum quota will amount to approximately 25,000 new permits when the AA becomes applicable?
To determine who is right, we need to examine exactly what the official English text of the AA says, since the government’s Catalan translation does not match the official English text.
First, let us examine the four categories of residence in Andorra that the AA establishes for nationals of EU member states.
Section II of Annex VIII to the AA distinguishes between three types of residence permit and assigns a minimum growth rate to each: (1) long-term permits for economically active people, at 7%; (2) permits lasting more than three months for people who are not economically active, at 2.5%; and (3) short-term permits for economically active people, at 5%.
Section IV of Annex VIII introduces a new category for EU nationals who have held residence permits in Andorra for more than five years: permanent residents. These permanent residents are not counted as holders of valid residence permits: their status falls outside that category.
Therefore, when the AA becomes applicable, all EU nationals with more than five years of residence in Andorra will automatically become permanent residents. This residence status does not currently exist and will not be subject to quotas. Every EU national with more than five years of residence will become a permanent resident as soon as the AA applies.
Next, we must examine how the AA establishes a calculation basis for determining the minimum quotas Andorra must grant for each of the three categories of residence permit.
Let us take the minimum quota for long-term residence permits for economically active people. The AA sets out the following basis or method for calculating the minimum number of these permits:
First, two figures must be compared:
The average number of these residence permits in force, or valid, over the preceding five years.
The number of “these” economically active nationals residing in Andorra. Grammatically, “these” is a demonstrative determiner or adjective accompanying the noun “nationals” to specify its meaning. It provides textual cohesion by avoiding repetition. In other words, this figure refers to EU member state nationals holding long-term residence permits for economically active people.
Once these two figures have been established, the quota of new long-term residence permits for economically active people must produce a net increase in valid permits in this category exceeding 7%, relative to the average number of valid permits over the previous five years.
The calculation may be cumbersome, but it is clear.
The indisputable fact is that, on the first day the AA applies, approximately 25,000 of the roughly 40,000 EU nationals currently holding one of the three types of residence permit will have lived in Andorra for more than five years and will automatically become permanent residents.
The indisputable fact is that these 25,000 people, who will become permanent residents on the first day the AA applies, will cease to count towards the number of available residence permits.
The indisputable fact is that, on the first day the AA applies, approximately 25,000 EU nationals will no longer count towards the number of available permits.
Let us examine how this reduction of 25,000 in the number of available permits affects the calculation of the quotas:
It has no impact on the average number of residence permits in force over the preceding five years for EU citizens, which will remain approximately 40,000 across the three residence categories.
It has a substantial impact on the number of EU nationals holding long-term residence permits, and permits in the other two categories, who will be living in Andorra at that point. As Section IV of Annex VIII clearly establishes, those 25,000 people will no longer count towards the number of residents holding long-term residence permits for economically active people.
The conclusion is that those who interpret the quota as amounting to approximately 300 new long-term permits for economically active people in the first year make two glaring errors:
They assume that the average number of long-term residence permits for economically active people in force in Andorra over the preceding five years would be 5,253, which is not true.
They include the 25,000 permanent residents who emerge on the first day the AA applies, even though these people no longer belong to the long-term economically active residence category or either of the other two categories.
Those who believe the minimum quota will be approximately 25,000 people after the AA becomes applicable are right, with the qualification that the figures must be refined for each of the three categories and their corresponding growth rates.
This government error in calculating the minimum quotas, combined with the opening up of family reunification without the income requirements currently imposed by the Omnibus Law, without medical examinations and without criminal record checks, creates the prospect of a serious loss of control over immigration when the AA becomes applicable. With everything that would entail.
Final note: Answering this question required reading the English version of the AA, since the Catalan version says “the number of these nationals residing in Andorra”, whereas the official English version says “the number of these economically active nationals residing in Andorra”. This is a translation error that can lead to misunderstandings.
It is also important to consult the original French version of the European Commission’s letter. It does not say—as proponents of the 300-permit quota claim—that “if the average number of residence permits in force over the preceding five years is 5,253, excluding permanent residents, 7% gives approximately 368 new available permits”. The Commission’s exact wording is:
“Si la moyenne de titres de séjour en vigueur pour les années N-5 à N-1 était égale à 5.253, hors résidents permanents, ce taux d’augmentation résulterait de l’ajout pour l’année N de 368 titres de séjours disponibles pour les personnes exerçant une activité économique.”
In English: “If the average number of residence permits in force for years N-5 to N-1 were 5,253, excluding permanent residents, this rate of increase would result from the addition, for year N, of 368 residence permits available to economically active people.”
This is very different because:
The Commission does not confirm that the average over the preceding five years is 5,253 people; it merely presents this conditionally, as a hypothetical scenario.
It makes clear that this hypothetical average excludes permanent residents, since permanent residents cannot be added to the number of valid permits.
Only in that hypothetical case would the quota amount to 368 permits.
However, since neither the average number of valid permits over the preceding five years would be 5,253 nor permanent residents can be added to the number of valid permits, the calculation of 368 permits would be incorrect.