Yearbook 2016

Andorra. According to thereligionfaqs, Andorra signed an agreement in February on automatic information exchange with the EU regarding private assets and revenues. The rules, which apply from 2018, are intended to prevent tax fraud. According to countryaah, the current population of Andorra is 77,276. Double taxation agreements entered into force during the year with both France and Spain.

Andorra Population 2016

HISTORY

The political-institutional history of Andorra has undergone a decisive acceleration in recent years, culminating in the adoption, on May 4, 1993, of a constitutional text that led the co-principality to transform itself into a sovereign and independent state.

In its centuries-old history, Andorra had kept its feudal systems unaltered. Sovereignty belonged to the bishop of Urgel and to the representative of the French nation, who formally had the exercise of all powers. In fact, the legislative activity was now carried out mainly by a General Council of 28 members elected by the Andorrani, the executive was exercised by a Council (until 1981 by the First Mayor) which had to have the confidence of the General Council, while the co – principles reserved the appointment of judges vested with judicial power.

  • Abbreviation Finder: Check to see how the 3-letter abbreviation of AND stands for the nation of Andorra in geography.

The renewal process matured in the 1960s and 1980s as a result of the massive predominantly Franco-Spanish immigration linked to the economic boom and the pressure exerted by the Council of Europe so that Andorra acquired a legal personality that would make the country a subject of international law for all. the effects. During the 1970s a series of electoral reforms expanded suffrage to women, who gained the right in 1971, and to more recent immigrants, while political parties and trade union associations remained illegal. The discussion on the future institutional set-up was started in 1982 by the government chaired by O. Ribas Reig and continued amidst the setbacks caused by the conservatives. In 1985a new electoral reform lowered the age of voters to 18 ; in 1988 Andorra joined the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and in the same year the first workers’ union arose, promptly declared outlawed by the General Council with a conservative majority. The process of political reforms therefore resumed in the early 1990s, also following growing popular pressure, which culminated in January 1992 in the first protests in Andorran history.

In May 1993, after being approved in a referendum in March, the new Constitution was finally introduced. According to it, the bishop of Urgel and the president of the French Republic remain at the head of the state but with greatly reduced powers, while the citizens of Andorra are recognized full sovereignty. The executive power belongs to the Executive Council, chaired by a prime minister responsible before the General Council of the Valleys of; the latter, holder of the legislative power, is made up of 28deputies, elected for four years by universal suffrage. The Constitution provides for the formation of trade unions and political parties and the formulation of an autonomous foreign policy. The delicate question of relations with the Catholic religion (one of the two heads of state being a bishop) was resolved by referring to the privileged relations between the State and the Catholic Church, and omitting the concept of state religion.

In the governments that succeeded one another since 1993, the center (Agrupación nacional democrática, AND) and center-right (Unión liberal, UL) parties prevailed. The leader of the UL, M. Forné Molne, was reconfirmed as head of the government with the general elections of February 1997. Molne is responsible for controversial financial legislation, which provides for the granting of nominal citizenship to foreigners willing to transfer capital to Andorra in exchange for an annual tax, in order to alleviate the heavy public debt, in the absence of direct taxation.. Since July 1993 Andorra has been a member of the UN.