Monaco And France Sign New Agreements

LawAndTax-News.com, London

11 November 2005

Monaco's Prince Albert II, pictured, and President Jacques Chirac attended the signing ceremony at the Elysée Palace earlier this week for new agreements regulating the Franco-Monegasque relationship, reports Monaco advisory firm Moore Stephens Services.

This was the first official visit of H.S.H. Prince Albert II to France and began with a meeting between the Prince and the President in the presence of Monegasque and French delegations.

This was followed by the signature of the texts listed below by the Minister of State, H.E. Mr Jean-Paul Proust and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Jean-Pierre Lafon:

• A Convention which is designed to adapt and to strengthen administrative co-operation between the Principality of Monaco and the French Republic. It replaces the previous 1930 convention and has already undergone a preliminary application phase by means of Government expansion, with the nomination of a Government Counsellor for Social Affairs and Health and an External Relations Delegate.
• The Convention of judicial assistance between the Monegasque and French Governments with regard to criminal matters;
• Exchange of letters relating to investor securities, with the aim of completing the pre-existing exchange of letters concerning banking affairs in Monaco, as well as enabling banking establishments within the Principality to accede to the French investor security system.

The revision normalises Monaco’s relationship with its larger neighbour, putting the two States on equal footing, updating the 1930 convention, and giving the Principality the autonomy promised in the build up to its entry into the Council of Europe. The agreement removes the restriction whereby French civil servants are appointed to many important positions in Monaco.

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