Montaner accuses Riba of “politics of fear” over EU deal

Carine Montaner, president of Andorra Endavant, responded on Tuesday to Landry Riba, Secretary of State for Relations with the European Union, after he shared several documents challenging Alfons Clavera’s comments on whether the customs agreement with the European Union would remain in force.

Montaner criticised Riba for not addressing an Andorra Endavant post setting out the party’s arguments about what would happen to the customs agreement if Andorra rejected the association deal.

“Mr Riba, have you seen our post about the work of the parliamentary office and the arguments behind our view that the customs agreement would not operate without an association agreement?” Montaner said.

She said she understood the Secretary of State’s “concern” and linked his interest in the association deal to his future salary. “Mr Riba is the person most interested in having an association agreement so that he can keep his salary,” she claimed.

Montaner denounces “politics of fear”

The Andorra Endavant president also criticised what she sees as Riba’s lack of neutrality in the debate over the agreement. “We are doing our job, and we are tired of politics of fear,” she said, adding that, in her view, the Secretary of State “is not entirely neutral”.

Riba had responded to Clavera, who said the customs agreement would not disappear if the Principality voted against the association deal.

The Secretary of State shared two news articles and an excerpt from a European report discussing the possibility of renegotiating the customs regime in the context of the single market.

However, La Veu Lliure reported that the cited documents did not establish that the current customs agreement would automatically end if Andorra rejected the association deal. The report focuses on possible renegotiation linked to integration into the single market.