Since the establishment of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1960, the European Community has been one of its most important trading partners. In 1972, several EFTA States concluded Free Trade Agreements with the European Economic Community (EEC), for the purpose of eliminating import tariffs on industrial goods. This goal was largely achieved by 1977.

The idea of creating a European Economic Area goes back to a joint ministerial meeting of EFTA and the EEC in Luxembourg in 1984. At this meeting, a declaration was adopted referring to the establishment of a European Economic Area.

In 1989 Jacques Delors, then President of the European Commission, proposed a new form of partnership that would later manifest itself in the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA Agreement). The EFTA States, which at the time included Austria, Finland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, enthusiastically took up this idea. In June 1990, formal negotiations began. The EEA Agreement was signed in Porto (Portugal) on 2 May 1992 and entered into force on 1 January 1994. The Contracting Parties were the Member States of the European Union (EU) at the time (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom) and the EFTA States Austria, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. On 1 January 1995, the EFTA States Austria, Finland, and Sweden became members of the European Union. Liechtenstein became a full member of the EEA on 1 May 1995.

On 1 May 2004, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, and on 1 January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania became Member States of the European Union and simultaneously also Contracting Parties to the EEA Agreement, since article 128 of the EEA Agreement requires every country wanting to join the EU also to become a member of the EEA.

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European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

Responsibility for content lies with the EEA Coordination Unit .

Signing of the treaty in Porto on 2 May 1992
by then Prime Minister Hans Brunhart

Picture: National Archives