Parliamentary Diplomacy as a Key Factor to Conclude the Monitoring Process of the Council of Europe in Andorra and Monaco

Abstract

The Principalities of Andorra and Monaco acceded to the Council of Europe with significantly different motivations of origin. The Principality of Andorra managed to approve a constitution and join the Council of Europe in 1994 after a very relevant campaign of parliamentary diplomacy exogenous to the country itself. In the case of the Principality of Monaco, the impetus of Prince Rainier led to the Principality’s entry into the Council of Europe in 2004 but with the obligation to undertake legal and institutional reforms in which parliamentary diplomacy played a central role. In both cases, parliamentary diplomacy served to remove obstacles and facilitated the accomplishment of the requirements that had to be honored to be part of the pan-European international organization. In the case of Andorra with an ex ante monitoring and in the case of Monaco with an ex post monitoring to its entrance to the organisation. This article studies the entrance of Andorra and Monaco to the Council of Europe, the political and parliamentary debates that the access provoked outside and within the respective countries, and how parliamentary diplomacy helped to establish the fulfillment of their obligations with the principles and standards of the International Organization.