Tag Archives: Study in Andorra

A tiny state entity on the southern side of the Pyrenees, located between France and Spain, Andorra has maintained a sort of independence from both nations since the Middle Ages, linked in particular to the country’s original form of government which provided for shared sovereignty between the head of the French state and the Spanish bishop of Urgel. Until the middle of the twentieth century, the Andorra affair took place in absolute indifference on the part of other European states, but then, following the development among its residents of the practice of smuggling (of French goods during the Spanish civil war and of Spanish goods during the Second World War), the small state has seen its popularity grow in a short time, and since the 1950s the visits of the French and Spaniards in search of favorable commercial opportunities have become increasingly intense. Since then, the country’s population has even increased tenfold, with a great flourishing of tourism and financial activities linked to the absence of customs duties. To maintain these privileges within the European Union Andorra even renounced the centuries-old regime of the co-principality, to turn to democracy in 1993. According to COUNTRYAAH, Andorra is a nation in Southern Europe, the capital city of which is Andorra. The latest population of Andorra is 77,276.
THE COUNTRY
The country, for a long time subject to the joint sovereignty of France and the bishop of Urgel (Spain), gave itself in 1993, following a referendum, a democratic constitution with which, while remaining formally a principality, it has effectively become a democracy parliamentary. The constitutional text, signed by the two principals (the president of the French Republic and the bishop of Urgel), was promulgated on 3 May. According to the new Constitution, the traditional joint sovereignty, exercised by two princes, has assumed a mainly honorific meaning. The legislative power it is up to the 28-member General Council of the Valleys which also has the task of electing the Executive Council (government). This institutional change was dictated by the need to negotiate the maintenance of certain privileges within the European Union and the single market. The judicial system provides for a supreme court of justice. Teaching depends on Spain and France: in each community the two countries have one or two schools in which the educational system is the same as in the country of origin. The teaching is free; after primary school, pupils can continue their secondary and higher education in both Spanish and French schools.