Andorra

Geography

Andorra is nestled high in the Pyrénées Mountains on the French-Spanish border.

Government

A parliamentary coprincipality composed of the bishop of Urgel (Spain) and the president of France. Their representatives are listed above. The principality was internationally recognized as a sovereign state in 1993.

History

An autonomous and semi-independent coprincipality, Andorra has been under the joint suzerainty of the French state and the Spanish bishops of Urgel since 1278. It maintains closer ties to Spain, however, and Catalán is its official language. In the late 20th century, Andorra became a popular tourist and winter sports destination and a wealthy international commercial center because of its banking facilities, low taxes, and lack of customs duties. In 1990 Andorra approved a customs union treaty with the EU permitting free movement of industrial goods between the two, but with Andorra applying the EU's external tariffs to third countries. Andorra became a member of the UN in 1993 and a member of the Council of Europe in 1994. In 2002, Andorra shut down an incinerator that was emitting 1,000 times the dioxin levels permitted by the EU.
On June 3, 2009, Jaume Bartumeu was elected the new head of government with 14 votes in the the 28-seat Parliament.