We have a new Treaty for Europe | 134 comments (134 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: A la carte cooperation (4.00 / 4)

Huh: who knew this?

A major challenge in 2003/2004 was to ensure that the EEA was enlarged at the same time as the EU, so as not to disturb the good functioning of the Internal Market. To this end, an EEA Enlargement Agreement was negotiated between the Community and its Member States, the EEA EFTA States and the Acceding Countries. The EEA Enlargement Agreement came into force on 1 May 2004, thus allowing for the simultaneous enlargement of the EU and the EEA. Most of the elements of the EEA Enlargement Agreement are technical adaptations, but one of the major substantial results of the enlargement negotiations was a ten-fold increase in the financial contribution of the EEA EFTA States, in particular Norway, to social and economic cohesion in the Internal Market (1167 M€ over five years, 600 M€ from all three EEA EFTA States and 567 M€ as a bilateral Norwegian contribution). Another element of the EEA Enlargement Agreement was that the Community would open additional quotas for certain marine and agricultural products from the EEA EFTA States.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 01:32:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Which goes to show (none / 0)

that the economic benefits of membership (or any quasi-equivalent access), for small countries, far outweigh the costs, as acknowledged by these countries by their choices.

But of course, the EU is not about the economy.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 02:33:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

We have a new Treaty for Europe | 134 comments (134 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)