The European Economic Area (or EEA) was created in the early 1990s. The idea of European unification literally hovered in the air and minds of prominent politicians of that time since the 1920s. A series of conflicts pushed back the actual creation of the union in the economic sphere for quite a 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 fixed by a legal treaty of 1992. But the creation of the European Union and the economic zone was preceded by several more disparate organizations and concepts of unification,expressed by prominent politicians, sociologists and economists of the early and mid-twentieth century.
So, back in the early 1920s, the phrase “United States of Europe” appeared in the German press. A year later, an Austrian philosopher advocated the creation of a pan-European organization, and in 1929 one of the high-ranking French ministers called on citizens and state apparatuses to unite in a European federal union.
In the post-war years, one after another, new unions and associations appear: the Movement for a United Europe, the European Payments Union and the Union of Europe, Euratom, the European Free Trade Association and the European Economic Community, which are the forerunners of the modern EEA. At the same time, all organizations have little connection with each other, none of them unites all European countries.
It was possible to come to a common system somewhat later, but it was not perfect either. By the 1960s, Europe was united by a common market and agricultural policy, and in the highest circles they began to form a monetary union and reorganize the economic one. The politicians have grandiose plans, but even today the EEA is still not such an influential organization to regulate all aspects of economic relations between the participating countries.
EEA activities and participating countries
To date, the European Economic Area has 28 EU countries, as well as Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland - three of the four (+ Switzerland) members of the Europeanfree trade associations. Switzerland is not legally a member of the EEA, but the country has all the rights and obligations of a member of the European Economic Area. The participating countries are also supplemented by San Marino, Andorra, Monaco and the Vatican, which are not de jure members of the union, but due to association with Spain, Italy and France are actually in 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: UK, Greece, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, M alta, 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 territorially part 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 includes: free trade and provision of services, free movement of financial capital and resources (including labor). The legislation of the states of the European Economic Area has been brought to a common level in environmental matters,trade, policy in the social sphere, regulation of the work of legal entities and individuals, keeping statistics.
EEA and Russia, EurAsEC
The European Economic Area is, for a number of reasons, a less integrated entity than the EurAsEC in conjunction with the Customs Union and the United Cooperation Organization of the CAC (Central Asian States).
Freedom of economic cooperation and establishment of trade relations between the 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.
EurAsEC potential is objectively more significant than the European Economic Area. Especially the statement concerns raw materials, natural resources and the demographic factor. The prospects for further development of the Eurasian Economic Community and the Customs Union, as well as the CAC United Cooperation Organization, are much more optimistic than the future of the European organization seems. The European Economic Area is a closed formation, while the EurAsEC is an open organization that arouses the interest of many states (and not only the post-Soviet space).
