The European Economic Area (or EEA) was created in the early 1990s. The idea of uniting Europe has literally been in the air and in the minds of prominent politicians of the time since the 1920s. A series of conflicts pushed the actual creation of an alliance in the economy for a rather long period. But the unification processes in many ways intensified immediately after the Second World War. Today, the EEA is a separate sector in the global economy, but in many ways inferior to the EurAsEC (Eurasian Economic Community).
The history of the formation of the economic union
The creation of the European Economic Area is closely connected with the formation of the European Union as a whole. The formation of the EU is legally enshrined in a 1992 treaty. But the creation of the European Union and the economic zone was preceded by several more fragmented organizations and union concepts expressed by prominent politicians, sociologists and economists of the early and mid-twentieth century.
So, in the early 1920s, the phrase “United States of Europe” appeared in the German press. A year later, the Austrian philosopher advocated the creation of a pan-European organization, and one of the high-ranking ministers of France in 1929 called on citizens and state apparatuses to join the European Federal Union.
In the post-war years, one after the other, all new alliances and associations appeared: the Movement for a United Europe, the European Payment Union and the Union of Europe, Euroatom, the European Free Trade Association and the European Economic Community, which are the forerunners of the modern EEA. Moreover, all organizations are little connected with each other, none of them unites all European countries.
It was possible to come to a common system a little later, but it was not perfect either. Already by the 60s, Europe was united by a common market and agricultural policy, and in higher circles they were beginning to form a monetary union and reorganize the economic one. The politicians have grandiose plans, but even today the EEA is still not so influential an organization to regulate all aspects of economic relations between the participating countries.
EEA Activities and Member Countries
Today, the European Economic Area has 28 EU countries, as well as Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland - three out of four (+ Switzerland) members of the European Free Trade Association. Switzerland is not legally included in the EEA, but the country has been granted all the rights and obligations of a member of the European Economic Area. The participating countries are also complemented by San Marino, Andorra, Monaco and the Vatican, which de jure are not members of the union, but due to association with Spain, Italy and France are actually located on the territory of the EEA. The list of participants has undergone little change since the establishment of the organization in 1992 and the actual start of work in 1994.
Thus, the European Economic Area includes:
- EU countries: Great Britain, Greece, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, France, Finland , Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Estonia;
- three states of the Free Trade Association: Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland;
- Andorra, the Vatican, Monaco and San Marino, which are only territorial members of the EEA, do not have the rights and obligations of the participating countries (with the exception of the right of citizens of these states to work in some EU countries).
The organization’s activities are aimed at creating and maintaining a common market, which provides for: free trade and the provision of services, free movement of financial capital and resources (including labor). The legislation of the states of the European Economic Area is generalized in matters of ecology, trade, social policy, regulation of the work of legal entities and individuals, and statistics.
EEA and Russia, EurAsEC
For several reasons, the European Economic Area is a less integrated entity than the EurAsEC in conjunction with the Customs Union and the Organization for Joint Cooperation of the CAC (Central Asian states).
The freedom of economic cooperation and the establishment of trade relations between participants is the main goal set by the European Economic Area. Russia, in alliance with Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (from 2006 to 2008), as well as observer countries, which at different times were Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia, forms common customs borders and develops common tariffs, prices and foreign economic policy.
The potential of the EurAsEC is objectively greater than the European Economic Area. Especially the statement concerns raw materials, natural resources and the demographic factor. The prospects for the further development of the Eurasian Economic Community and the Customs Union, as well as the Organization for Joint Cooperation of the CAC, are much more optimistic than the future of the European organization seems. The European Economic Area is a closed entity, while the EurAsEC is an open organization that arouses the interest of many states (and not only the post-Soviet space).