Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a sovereign landlocked microstate on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees, bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south. Believed to have been created by Charlemagne, Andorra was ruled by the count of Urgell until 988, when it was transferred to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell. The present principality was formed by a charter in 1278. It is currently headed by two co-princes: the bishop of Urgell in Catalonia, Spain and the president of France. Its capital and largest city is Andorra la Vella.
The Liberals of Andorra is a conservative-liberal political party in Andorra. It is a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.
Syndic is a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a university, institution or other corporation, entrusted with special functions or powers.
The General Council is the unicameral parliament of Andorra. It is sometimes referred to as the General Council of the Valleys because it was the historical name and to distinguish it from similarly named bodies in the Val d'Aran and in France.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Andorra have advanced significantly in the 21st century. Civil unions, which grant all the benefits of marriage, have been recognized since 2014, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is constitutionally banned. The General Council passed a bill on 21 July 2022 that will legalize same-sex marriage in 2023, and convert all civil unions into civil marriage.
Òscar Ribas Reig was an Andorran politician, lawyer, and businessman who became the prime minister of Andorra in 1982. He twice served as head of government, first from 8 January 1982 to 21 May 1984 and again from 12 January 1990 to 7 December 1994.
Parliamentary elections were held in Andorra on 26 April 2009, the fourth under the 1993 Constitution. The elections were held at the end of the normal four-year term of the General Council, but also following months of intense pressure from Co-Prince Nicolas Sarkozy to change the country's banking secrecy laws.
Same-sex marriage in Andorra has been legal since 17 February 2023. Andorra first established stable unions on 23 March 2005, providing same-sex couples with some of the rights and benefits of marriage, and later enacted civil unions on 25 December 2014, offering a greater set of rights. On 21 July 2022, the General Council voted to open civil marriage to same-sex couples. The law was promulgated by Co-Prince Emmanuel Macron on 17 August 2022, and came into effect six months later.
Democrats for Andorra is a centre-right, liberal-conservative political party currently in government in Andorra.
The Executive Council of Andorra is the chief executive body of the Principality of Andorra.
Marta Repullo i Grau is an Andorran writer, working in the Catalan language.
Roser Suñé Pascuet is an Andorran politician, current and first female to hold the office of General Syndic of the General Council, the Speaker of the Parliament of Andorra since 3 May 2019.
Meritxell Palmitjavila Naudí is an Andorran politician, current Deputy General Syndic of the General Council of Andorra since 3 May 2019, she is the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Andorra.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Andorra is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Andorra on 2 March 2020, when a 20-year-old man returned to the country from Milan, Italy. With a total population of 77,543, on 7 December 2020, the infection rate was 1 case per 11 inhabitants, and the death rate was 1 case per 994 inhabitants.
Susagna Arasanz i Serra was an Andorran economist and politician, minister of finance between 1994 and 2000, becoming the first woman to hold the office, under the premiership of Marc Forné.
Events in the year 2022 in Andorra.
In the parliamentary elections in Andorra on 2 April 2023, the incumbent liberal-conservative coalition between Democrats for Andorra (DA) and Committed Citizens (CC) won an absolute majority led by Prime Minister Xavier Espot. This is the fourth legislature in a row in which DA governs the country. A new party, Concord, emerged in second place, taking the opposition leadership held by the Social Democratic Party since 2019, which fell to third place by losing four seats.
Josep Pintat Forné is an Andorran politician. A member of the General Council from 2015 to 2023, he was formerly a member of the Lauredian Union (UL) and led the Liberals of Andorra (AL) to second place in the 2015 election. He founded the Third Way (TV) in 2018, leading them to fourth place in the 2019 election.
Víctor Naudi Zamora is an Andorran architect and politician. He was the president of the Social Democratic Party (PS), serving in the General Council (2007–2009) and then as minister of the interior in the government of Jaume Bartumeu until its defeat in 2011. He left PS at the start of 2013 and established Social Democracy and Progress (SDP) alongside Bartumeu, leading its candidacy and being one of its two members elected to the General Council in 2015. The party lost its representatives in the 2019 election.
Carine Montaner Raynaud is an Andorran politician who has served in the General Council since 2015.
