Andorra–France border
A short ridge-top line in the eastern Pyrenees. For centuries no treaty said where it ran: custom alone put it on the crest and along the Ariège river, until the two countries split their last disputed patches, half each, in 2012.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 29 September 2026Suggest a correction
See it on the globe:Andorra →France →
Two princes, one French
Andorra’s dual allegiance began in the late 13th century with a quarrel between the Spanish bishops of Urgel and the French heirs to the countship of Urgel. From then it was governed jointly by representatives of the bishop and of the French head of state, and today the French president and the bishop of Urgel are still its co-princes.[3][4]
A constitution adopted in 1993 moved most of their powers to Andorra’s elected General Council, and Andorra joined the United Nations that year.[3][4] The French Senate notes that the border with France had never been fixed by any international agreement. It rested on custom, following a mountain crest and the Ariège river, and was uncertain in places, causing disputes between neighbouring communes.[1][2]
A swap for a viaduct
The only road between the two countries, through Pas de la Casa, was crowded in summer and dangerous in winter. To build a viaduct over the Ariège leading to the Envalira tunnel, Andorra needed the land under its piers to be Andorran. A treaty signed in Andorra la Vella on 12 September 2000 swapped two uninhabited plots of equal size, each about 15,600 m².[1][2]
France gained a strip of the Ariège’s left bank, which the French commune next door had accused Andorra of filling in and so shifting the river.[1] The treaty also opened talks on the whole line.[1]
Splitting the Clot des Abelletes
A joint commission first met on 5 July 2001 and needed ten meetings over ten years. The main dispute was the Clot des Abelletes, a zone of about 46 to 48 hectares between the Font Nègre lake and the Pic Nègre d’Envalira, whose lake supplies water to Pas de la Casa. The commission found the historical arguments hard to reconcile and proposed dividing the land from 2002.[2]
A line was agreed in 2009, then questioned by Andorra’s new government at the request of the parish of Encamp, and finally validated on 9 December 2011. The agreement signed in Paris on 6 March 2012 split all 52.86 disputed hectares equally, 26.43 hectares to each side, and gave the border coordinates for the first time.[2]
Timeline
13th century
Two princes
A quarrel over Urgel begins Andorra’s joint rule by a bishop and a French lord.[3]
1993
Constitution
Andorra becomes a parliamentary state and joins the UN.[3]
200012 September 2000
Land swap
Equal plots are exchanged for the Envalira viaduct.[1]
20015 July 2001
Commission meets
Work starts on delimiting the whole border.[2]
20119 December 2011
Line agreed
The tenth meeting validates the final line.[2]
20126 March 2012
Delimitation agreement
The disputed land is divided half and half.[2]
More borders
Sources
- [1]
- [2]
- [3]Andorra: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica (Wayback Machine copy)
- [4]Andorra · Encyclopaedia Britannica (Wayback Machine copy)
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.