Talk:European Economic Area

Membership question

Membership question: are the '2004' EU memebers, members of the EEA? are the 2007 candidates? I've found this via a google search:

... (the EEA) currently has 31 member countries. These are the 15 EU Member States; Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, which are members of the European Economic Area; and the 13 EU accession and candidate countries, namely Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, the Slovak Republic and Turkey (from this month). The EEA is the first EU body to take in the accession countries. Negotiations on EEA membership are also under way with Switzerland.

This is wrong, EU candidates are not members of EEA, the EEA is not a EU body and Switzerland is not seeking to join the EEA as far as I know. Besides, this text contradicts itself as it claims that 31 countries are EEA members but also states (correct at the time it was written) that the EEA is EU15+IS+NO+LI. --Bjarki 21:01, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

You are wrong. the newest 10 EU members have negotiated their EEA membership before joining the EU and they have joined both the EEA and EU at the same time (I can find a link somewhere about this later).Alinor 10:02, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Yes, that's what I said. EU candidates are not EEA members. --Bjarki 13:13, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

It's not wrong, it's just about the European Environment Agency. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.229.101.39 (talk) 08:32, 17 September 2014 (UTC)

Green circle around Liechtenstein?

Since the EEA has only 3 members, it might be nice to put a clear green circle around Liechtenstein? Now looking at the map, I wouldn't know they were one of the 3. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.157.94.3 (talk) 20:35, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

No financial burden

There is an objectionable phrase here in my opinion, the article states that "EEA members have no financial burden" but the countries do contribute to the EU budget - Norway for instance contributes over 200 million Euros a year to the budget. Personally I think it's a bit misleading.

Map: Cyprus and Malta

Cyprus and Malta are missing on the map of EEA countries. MaartenVidal 01:07, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Map: Your map and maplabel sucks

The map is not clear. If you want to present the "Members of the EEA", then present it on a map, do not mix them with another "European Union" stuff. The map is complicated to read, and the label is confusing.

Thank you for the constructive comment. How exactly does the map and the label confuse you? --Bjarki 12:32, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

EEA members

I have made a minor edit to remove the previous suggestion that the EU might itself be a member of the EEA. The EU does not have legal personality, and cannot itself accede to any treaty. Only the member states can. Pearcedh 15:23, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

It is true. Technically it is the European Community which is a member in its own capacity. For most people this is the same thing. --Bjarki 21:39, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

So who's a member of the EEA?

NO, IS and LI are.

The EC is.

Are any EU countries members themselves, or do they act as part of the EC in terms of EEA membership? What about SE, FI and AT, who joined the EEA one year before joining EU? Does the EEA situation look any different for those three countries than for the other EU countries? (Stefan2 20:16, 17 April 2007 (UTC))

Each EU country is a member by itself, so there are 30 member countries (27+3) as well as the EC which is a member itself. --Bjarki 20:28, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

MOST OF THE DATA is OUT OF DATE on this page...AS OF 2009 Switzerland IS a MEMBER ! OFFICIAL PAGE: http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/countries-and-eionet/intro —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.10.138.59 (talk) 05:37, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

That's the wrong EEA! This article is about the European Economic Area, but the page you refer to is about the European Environment Agency. The European Economic Area consists of all European Union countries as well as Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. The European Environment Agency consists of all European Union countries as well as Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Turkey. (212.247.11.156 (talk) 21:15, 24 August 2009 (UTC))

Switzerland is not a member (as of the timestamp of this edit), as can be seen by this link from within the EU's official EFTA website: http://www.efta.int/eea/eea-agreement.aspx (see note at bottom of page - Switzerland has a bilateral agreement, but is the only one of the four EFTA countries that is not also part of the EEA) --Nrubdarb (talk) 10:05, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

I don't find that the article states it is. The problem is with the map and its caption - a new map should be inserted which includes only EEA member states without mentioning or highlighting any EFTA or EU states. --Biblbroks (talk) 19:40, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Acronyms

I just want to say that the list of acronyms in the opening paragraph is BEAUTIFUL! Rock on! Zweifel 08:13, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

I always intended to kill that, thanks for the reminder. --Bjarki 00:43, 8 February 2007 (UTC) ok take it easy babe. and i want to see it works or not?????

History section?

Maybe it would be useful to have a history section on the EEA?

The EEA was created on 1994-01-01, consisting of the EC + SE, FI, AT, NO and IS (treaty signed 1992-05-02, Swiss referendum 1992-12-06, these dates according to Swedish Wikipedia).

SE, FI and AT joined the EU on 1995-01-01, thus superseeding the EEA treaty.

LI joined at a later point (1995-05-01 according to German Wikipedia).

When 10 countries joined the EU in 2004, the EEA treaty had to be renegotiated, and the new treaty was decided upon on 2004-01-29 in Norway (according to Norwegian Wikipedia).

More can probably be mentioned. (58.188.97.134 18:38, 7 March 2007 (UTC))

Map

Isn't the map wrong? It states that Svalbard (part of Norway) is part of the EEA, but as far as I know, it isn't, because the EEA treaty is incompatible with the Svalbard Treaty (mainly on the free movement of people chapter: anyone, including non-EEA citizens, may move to Svalbard and start working there without the need for visas or permits). (Stefan2 16:28, 5 August 2007 (UTC))

I believe that Stefan is right here. Norway -- except for Svalbard -- is a member of the EEA. Someone should please slice off the top of that map! (I don't know how, or I'd do it.) Thanks, - Hordaland (talk) 15:37, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

I am not sure about this. Do we have a source mentioning Svalbard as excluded? Please look at the table for EFTA-EU relations. In the Schengen agreement Svalbard is explicitely mentioned as excluded. In the EEA agreement it stated that "When ratifying the EEA Agreement, the Kingdom of Norway shall have the right to exempt the territory of Svalbard from the application of the Agreement." - so if it is excluded there should be some declaration/whatever about this and thus we should put a reference to it. Else - it is covered in the EEA (as EFTA covers the Svalbard - see point 2 of the same protocol 40). Alinor (talk) 11:06, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

I am not a lawyer, nor a politician, but in what seems to be the two main laws implementing EEA in Norwegian law, Svalbard is excluded. http://www.lovdata.no/all/tl-19921127-109-0.html#6 and http://www.lovdata.no/all/tl-19921127-112-0.html#3 --V79 (talk) 02:48, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

I found exclusion source here: [1] and changed the EFTA-EU table appropriately. Alinor (talk) 07:25, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

Jersey and Guernsey

Although part of the UK, are these islands included in the EEA? I have heard otherwise. Kelvingreen (talk) 14:34, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

The Channel Islands are neither part of the UK nor part of the EEA. Halx (talk) 14:36, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

SImple list needed

I added a {{Clarify}} to the membership section with this reason: Please provide a simple list of member countries. The article is currently deficient in that it does not tell the casual reader this information. The Euler diagram, nice as it is, does not satisfy the reader's needs. -84user (talk) 19:27, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

I agree with this suggestion 100%. I came here looking for a list and all I found was a tiny map and an image with flags, but no list. Waste of time. Thanks. Dendrotech (talk) 03:03, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Direct EEA membership (without being an EU or EFTA member)?

The article contains the following statement: "EEA membership has been discussed regarding Andorra, San Marino, Faroe Islands, Isle of Man, Morocco, Turkey, Israel"

These are countries that are neither EU or EFTA members - does this mean that a country can become a member of the EEA without being a member of the EU or EFTA? The original EEA agreement was between EU and EFTA, however I could not find a provision in it which mandates that a country must be an EU or EFTA member in order to join EEA. Is EEA membership for a third-party country (non-EU and non-EFTA member) possible? Clarification on this issue would be great. --FreedonNadd (talk) 23:12, 25 January 2013 (UTC)

That's an excellent question. Looking at the source, it often says things like "the Faeroe Islands have also carried out an assessment on membership of EFTA and the EEA" so they well could be referring to EEA membership via EFTA membership. TDL (talk) 23:42, 25 January 2013 (UTC)

However when the source talks about Morocco or Turkey, it speaks of the potential EEA membership for these countries without ever talking about EFTA (?)--FreedonNadd (talk) 00:08, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

Some more relevant quotes:

• "Firstly, EEA membership entails either EFTA or EU membership"
• "Whether this will include proposals for participation in the EEA through EFTA remains to be seen. The EU agrees that EFTA should determine which countries it admits as members. The EU has nonetheless shown an interest in seeing how the countries can be linked to the EEA framework, for instance by means of some form of association agreement with EFTA or the EEA."

So it seems like it's still an open question how these states would be tied to the EEA. Maybe it would be better to change the word "membership" to "association agreements" in the sentence you quoted. TDL (talk) 00:33, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

I've gone ahead and modified the wording to reflect the fact that it's not clear how these states would be associated with the EEA. TDL (talk) 01:22, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

Croatia

Did Croatia join EEA? I couldn't find a single source to confirm this information.Merkhet (talk) 18:03, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

No they haven't. See for example: "As well as becoming the 28th member of the European Union, Croatia has applied to become a member of the European economic area ...", "Croatia will soon become a member of the EEA ..." TDL (talk) 18:20, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

This document says otherwise: "1/13 Primjena ugovora o Europskom gospodarskom području (European Economic Area - EEA), protokol 4.". It's in Croatian only, but it says that Croatia is applying the EEA Agreement from July 1st. Merkhet (talk) 07:41, 5 July 2013 (UTC)

Croatia may be unofficially applying the agreement as from 1 July but it will not become an official member until we have a decision of the EEA Council which confirms that it is admitted. The last EEA Council in May confirmed that negotiations are still ongoing (see para. 12). Lamberhurst (talk) 08:41, 5 July 2013 (UTC)

I don't speak Croatian, but unless Google Translate is failing me that document concerns the application of Protocol 4 of the EEA Agreement only. Here are more sources that say they aren't yet a member: "31 EEA States, once Croatia's accession to the EEA has been finalised". TDL (talk) 15:44, 5 July 2013 (UTC)

This is carrying over to File:European Economic Area.svg, where editors are prematurely updating the map. TDL (talk) 17:50, 5 July 2013 (UTC)

That instruction by an Assistant Minister means Croatia is starting to apply the provisions of the treaty, which does not necessarily mean anything more than that. --Joy [shallot] (talk) 19:43, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

According to the EFTA website (here) the agreement includes 28 member states by virtue of being an agreement between Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and the EU rather than individual member states. The website is kind enough to clarify that "The EEA Agreement also states that when a country becomes a member of the European Union, it shall also apply to become party to the EEA Agreement (Article 128), thus leading to an enlargement of the EEA."--Tomobe03 (talk) 20:08, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

Right, but did you read the footnote from that website (which I mentioned above): "31 EEA States, once Croatia's accession to the EEA has been finalised"? Romania and Bulgaria didn't become EEA members until months after they joined the EU.[2][3]. At the moment, Croatia has applied to become a party to the agreement,[4] but there is no evidence that they have as of yet. TDL (talk) 20:20, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

Yes, but the European Commission decision of 1 June 2012 - COM (2012) 255 - stipulated that the EEA accession should be finalised by the time of Croatian accession to the EU ([5], p.9). There should be some document available online clarifying if that indeed happened or if the provisional solution mandated otherwise is in place instead.--Tomobe03 (talk) 20:28, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

Sure, the Commission wanted Croatia to join the EEA at the same time as the EU. But "should" isn't "did". The point is that just because they're a EU member doesn't mean they are automatically EEA members. They need to separately negotiate an EEA Enlargement Agreement, which needs to be approved and enter into force before they become an EEA member. Until we find a source saying that they are EEA member, we shouldn't claim that they are. I'm sure the EEA Enlargement Agreement will be signed in the next few months, but we shouldn't misrepresent the situation until that actually happens. TDL (talk) 20:44, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

Here is a list of states which are party to the EEA agreement. Searching through the agreement datebase doesn't turn up any recently signed enlargement agreement. The last time the EU enlarged on 1/2/2007, the EEA enlargement agreement was not signed until 8 months later on 25/7/2007, and it didn't enter into force for another 4+ years on 09/11/2011 while all the EEA member states ratified the agreement. (The agreement was provisionally in force from 1/8/2007.) TDL (talk) 22:33, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

According to [6], EEA accession negotiations are expected to be completed by the fall of 2013. TDL (talk) 18:27, 16 July 2013 (UTC)

EEA official website (eea.europa.eu): As Croatia joins the European Union, it also becomes a full member of the European Environment Agency (EEA) on July 1, 2013. Published : Jul 01, 2013 Last modified : Jul 02, 2013 04:14 PM. --Kolja21 (talk) 13:30, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

That's a different EEA (European Environment Agency)! Merkhet (talk) 13:48, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the fast answer! --Kolja21 (talk) 15:41, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

Croatia joined the EEA per this source: http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/biodiversity-rich-croatia-becomes-33rd — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.93.82.210 (talk) 08:31, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

See above. That link is about the European Environment Agency, but this article is about the European Economic Area. TDL (talk) 15:32, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

This document from 1 July 2013 from the official EEA / EFTA website states: "Who are the Contracting Parties to the EEA Agreement? The 28 EU Member States, together with the three EFTA States Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, make up the EEA Contracting Parties (the 31 EEA States)." — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zdk (talk • contribs) 19:25, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Here is the article with the correct EEA that supports Croatian membership and it's even on law portal, not some news page. http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d2206187-87e4-4afd-9083-6f9f0dab2967 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.50.148.64 (talk) 15:58, 19 July 2013 (UTC)

I'm sorry but the author of that article doesn't know what he's talking about and this is coming from a real lawyer. The fact that a Member State accedes to the European Union does not automatically mean that its citizens become EEA nationals. As per Article 128 of the EEA Agreement:

• (1) Any European State becoming a member of the Community shall, and the Swiss Confederation or any European State becoming a member of EFTA may, apply to become a party to this Agreement. It shall address its application to the EEA Council.
• (2) The terms and conditions for such participation shall be the subject of an agreement between the Contracting Parties and the applicant State. That agreement shall be submitted for ratification or approval by all Contracting Parties in accordance with their own procedures. Lamberhurst (talk) 16:48, 19 July 2013 (UTC)

Croatia is a member of EEA! All your previous statements to the contrary are based on dubious press info. Check out the official document: http://www.efta.int/~/media/Documents/eea/1112099-basic-features-of-the-EEA-Agreement.pdf. Also, UK Border Agency agrees with me: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucitizens/croatia/ . — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.108.10.32 (talk) 19:31, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

According to the Council of the European Union (obviously not dubious press info) Croatia has not yet ratified the EEA Agreement: [7]. The EFTA [8], the Norwegian Embassy to Croatia [9] and the Croatian Bureau of Statistics [10] (also not dubious press info) also dispute the claim that they are members. If they really are members, there would have to have been an EEA Enlargement Agreement signed by all the EEA parties. To date, there has been no evidence presented that such an agreement has been signed, and sources saying that negotiations are still ongoing. TDL (talk) 19:48, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

If there was still any doubt about this, the results from todays Council of the EEA should put them to rest: "The EEA Council welcomed the accession of Croatia to the EU on 1 July 2013 and urged all sides to complete all procedures relevant for the enlargement of the EEA with Croatia." and "Minister Linkevičius also encouraged all sides to conclude negotiations on Croatia’s accession to the EEA in the nearest future in order for Croatia to use the benefits of the EEA Agreement as well as of the Financial Mechanisms." TDL (talk) 23:39, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

Croatia is now a member of the EU and this article needs to be updated accordingly. 80.254.148.187 (talk) 16:51, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

This article is about the EEA, not the EU. Croatia needs to separately negotiate and accede to the EEA after joining the EU. As described in this article, that process is currently underway. TDL (talk) 18:21, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Northern Cyprus and EEA: Legal and practical aspects

NC and EEA: From the legal point of view:
1. The agreement is not applied to Northern Cyprus. Protocol 10 of the treaty of accession of the European Union to Cyprus suspended the application of the EU acquis to Northern Cyprus: Protocol No 10 on Cyprus (23.09.2003) "Official Journal of the European Union", pages=955
"Turkish Cypriot Community", European Commission: EEA agreement states that it only applies to the territories of EU member states to which the EU treaties apply: "AGREEMENT ON THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA" "European Free Trade Association", p. 40.
A joint declaration to the Final Act of treaty on accession of Cyprus to the EEA confirmed that this included the Protocol on Cyprus: "AGREEMENT on the participation of ..the Republic of Cyprus..in the European Economic Area", 29.04.2004, European Union
Practically, Northern Cyprus is also regarded as part of EEA by some countries:
2. Northern Cyprus is part of the EEA according to UK Council for International Students Affairs (UKCISA): UKCISAFor categories where the residence area includes the EEA, the residence area is made up of all 30 countries in the EEA including the whole of the island of Cyprus (that is, including Northern Cyprus
3. University of Cambridge, University of Cambridge, Undergraduate Admissions Handbook 2014-15The European Economic Area (EEA) is considered to be made up of the countries of the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. For the purposes of residence, this includes the whole of the island of Cyprus (including Northern Cyprus).
Danlaycock reverted by stating: "what a specific university charges for tuition has no legal effect. treaties clearly say otherwise.". I do not say NC is a part of EEA from legal points. What I say, in practice some countries handle NC as being a part of EEA. Also, U. of Cambridge is not the only university of UKCISA; all of the universities in UK are members of UKCISA.
4. Leeds University, Southampton University, Nottingham University: For categories where the residence area includes the EEA, the residence area is made up of all 30 countries in the EEA including the whole of the island of Cyprus (that is, including Northern Cyprus).Ayka3b (talk) 17:48, 31 May 2015 (UTC)

"Practically, Northern Cyprus is also regarded as part of EEA by some countries" - No, you have not demonstrated that at all. All you have shown is that a few universities have decided to asses the residency status of students from NC the same way as other EEA students. The same often applies to Switzerland (ie [11][12]). That of course doesn't mean that the UK government considers Switzerland to be part of the EEA. UKCISA does not represents the government nor does it set policy, so even if it did say "NC is part of the EEA" (which it did not) using this to state that "Northern Cyprus is part of the EEA" is a misrepresentation of the facts. Listing the tuition practises of UKCISA on this page is very WP:UNDUE. TDL (talk) 18:18, 31 May 2015 (UTC)

You are right. Thank you for clarifying this to me. A better phrasing might be: "Northern Cyprus is sometimes handled by some institutions of EEA countries as if it is a part of EEA" or "Northern Cyprus is sometimes given the same rights of the member countries of EEA by some institutions of EEA". Or, your suggestion? Ayka3b (talk) 19:20, 31 May 2015 (UTC)

Northern Cyprus is not a country or entity recognised by any EEA state. If and when Cyprus is reunited the northern part of the island would be an EU member state. Until then, as Protocol 10 clearly indicates, it remains an area over which the application of the EU Treaties is suspended. Residents of this part of Cyprus have no legal basis on which to claim EU or EEA rights. The fact that some educational institutions may nevertheless recognise them as EEA/EU nationals does not change this. Lamberhurst (talk) 19:40, 31 May 2015 (UTC)

Agreed with Lamberhurst. I don't see why a policy with regards to a very specific issues at a few institutions in a single EEA member state is notable enough to mention here as it doesn't have any effect on the legal situation. If IKEA decided to treat Ukraine as an EEA state for shipping purposes we wouldn't mention that here because it simply isn't notable. TDL (talk) 22:31, 31 May 2015 (UTC)

You are right to some extent. On the other hand, the situation is much bigger than u depict: Almost all UK universities take the same stance on this. I do not know what the situation is in terms of the other EEA countries. If the same applies for them as well, then one cannot minimize the situation with IKEA example, I think.Ayka3b (talk) 20:37, 3 June 2015 (UTC)

While that is very nice of them, it doesn't change its legal status. Merkhet (talk) 10:07, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

First sentence

The first sentence in the article does not state what European Economic Area is. Instead it talks about what it provides. Later in the first paragraph something referred to as 'The Agreement' is mentioned, without explaining what The Agreement is. The article introduction should be made clearer. --62.16.186.44 (talk) 22:14, 27 April 2016 (UTC)