San Marino in 2004

San Marinoin 2004

Area: 61.2 sq km (23.6 sq mi)
Population (2004 est.): 29,400
Capital: San Marino
Heads of state and government: The republic is governed by two capitani reggenti, or coregents, appointed every six months by a popularly elected Great and General Council.

In October 2004 a congress was held that brought together delegates from the 24 San Marino “communities” abroad. The congress was intended to forge stronger links between the republic and the extensive expatriate community, distributed among such wide-ranging locations as Argentina and the U.S. Not only were citizens who lived abroad pressing for a greater voice in domestic political affairs, but so were women. Only 10 women sat on San Marino’s 60-seat legislative assembly, the Great and General Council, and various calls were made for incentives to be given to political parties that were successful in promoting women candidates.

Delegates from San Marino attended the meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, held September 28–October 1 in Geneva. The IPU brought together 112 sovereign states in order to press for worldwide advocacy of such issues as biodiversity and multilateral disarmament.

San Marino continued to be an economic oasis in the turbulent Italian peninsula, although its unemployment rate, while still half the EU average, had increased since 2001. Part of this rise was ascribed to setbacks in the crucial banking sector, prompted by increasing competition and a recent tax amnesty that encouraged Italians to withdraw their savings from San Marino banks.

Gregory O. Smith