Yesterday the citizens of San Marino voted on becoming an EU
member state. But is that even possible?
As Brussels braces itself for the inevitable disappointment
of a referendum on EU accession in Iceland, when or if that ever takes place,
it will come as little comfort that another non-EU European country rejected EU
membership yesterday.
The
Republic of
San Marino, the tiny microstate of 33,000 people
situated within
Northern Italy, held a
referendum yesterday
on whether to apply for EU membership. The proposition failed because
not enough people turned out to vote. Though a narrow majority of people who
voted approved the measure (50.3% versus 49.7%), a referendum needs 32% of
eligible voters to vote yes in order for the measure to pass. The 'yes' vote
amounted to just 20%.
Unlike an eventual
Iceland
referendum, the
San Marino
referendum was not a response any actual offer of EU membership. The
question of whether to start accession negotiations with
Brussels was put to voters after a group of
citizens collected the required number of signatures. No matter how the
referendum turned out it was non-binding. It would be up to the
San Marino
government whether to actually request accession negotiations, and it would be
up to EU member states whether to accept that request.
Yesterday the citizens of 
What can I say, the Cote D’Azur is truly stunning. Every day on this trip we’ve enjoyed beautiful sunny weather, swimming dips in a sparking blue sea, with stunning views of seaside and mountains. We had to take a moment and soak it all in when we first entered the Riviera area, stopping off at a jagged cliff on the coast near Cavalier-Sur-Mer to have a picnic with some local French cuisine we had purchased at the market(fortunately picked out by my friends, I must confess to my culinary ignorance). The only sign of people in this remote spot were the handful of nude sunbathers on the small bit of sand below. We were lucky our guide book told us about this one section of the coast that hasn’t been built up.
From there we went to a very different area, the celebrity playground of St. Tropez, or “San Trop” as its been dubbed by the jet set. I don’t think I’ve been to a more nausea-inducing town in my life to be honest. It was incredibly gauche, with gaunt women tottering around the town in over the top outfits and blinding jewellery. We speculated that San Trop is basically what you’d get if Hello magazine became a town. It was really revolting, and quite a contrast from tasteful, understated Aix. While we were eating dinner Paris Hilton came sauntering by with Paparazzi in tow, and at that point we knew it was time to leave.