European Economic Area (EEA)

Liechtenstein’s membership in the European Economic Area (EEA)

Through the EEA, the 27 Member States of the European Union and the three EEA/EFTA States (Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway) are integrated in the European Internal Market. Citizens of all 30 EEA Member States have the right to make use of the four freedoms, i.e. the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital. In addition, the EEA Agreement prohibits any discrimination based on nationality. Common rules on competition as well as harmonized provisions in the areas of social policy, consumer protection, environment, statistics and company law further support the functioning of the internal market.

Preserving the homogeneity of the internal market is a highly dynamic process. It relies on the continued incorporation of EEA-relevant EU legal acts into the EEA Agreement, thereby making them applicable in the three EEA/EFTA States. Several hundred EU legal acts are prepared every year by experts of EEA/EFTA States for incorporation into the EEA Agreement. In Liechtenstein, this task is centrally coordinated by the EEA Coordination Unit. The Mission in Brussels supports these activities and represents Liechtenstein in the Joint Committee of the EU and the EEA/EFTA States (EEA Joint Committee), which takes the decisions on EEA incorporation of EU legal acts, as well as in the EFTA Standing Committee, in which the EEA/EFTA States coordinate their positions internally prior to Joint Committee meetings.

The highest political organ of the EEA, the EEA Council, meets twice per year to discuss the functioning of the EEA. On that occasion, the competent Ministers of the EEA/EFTA States meet the rotating EU Council Presidency and the EU Commission. The EEA Council usually adopts conclusions (most recently in May 2021), which reflect the status of EEA cooperation. Among the most important topics addressed in recent years were Brexit as well as the incorporation of EU legal acts in the area of financial services as well as to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. In the margins of the EEA Council, the informal Political Dialogue at ministerial level with the European External Action Service on issues of common foreign policy interests also takes place.

The two-pillar structure reflects an important principle of the EEA. While the EU’s own organs enforce the implementation of the EEA Agreement in the 27 EU Member States, the three EEA/EFTA States rely on their own institutions: The EFTA Surveillance Authority as well as the EFTA Court.