Glossary:European Economic Area (EEA)

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xlink:href="skins/Statexprevamp/ressources/ecl/dist/images/icons/sprites/icons.svg#print"></use></svg> </a> </div>  </div> </div> <div class="ecl-container"> <div id="content" class="ecl-row content-row">   <div class="ecl-col-l-12 ecl-col-m-12 ecl-col-s-12 ecl-col-12 content-col content article-content article-content-main"> <div id="bodyContent" class="bodyContent">  <div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr"> <div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr"><div class="mw-parser-output"><p><i>See <a href="/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:EEA" title="Glossary:EEA">EEA disambiguation page</a> for other meanings of EEA.</i> </p><p>The <b>European Economic Area</b>, abbreviated as <b>EEA</b>, consists of the Member States of the <a href="/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:European_Union_(EU)" title="Glossary:European Union (EU)">European Union (EU)</a> and three countries of the <a href="/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:European_Free_Trade_Association_(EFTA)" title="Glossary:European Free Trade Association (EFTA)">European Free Trade Association (EFTA)</a> (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway; excluding Switzerland). </p><p>The Agreement on the EEA entered into force on 1 January 1994. It seeks to strengthen trade and economic relations between the contracting parties and is principally concerned with the four fundamental pillars of the internal market, namely: the free movement of goods, people, services and capital. The availability of comparable statistical data is considered as relevant to the four freedoms and is therefore included in the agreement. </p><p><a href="/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:EU_enlargements" title="Glossary:EU enlargements">EU enlargements</a> had a direct impact on the EEA Agreement, and the enlarged EEA now includes 30 countries (EFTA countries in italic): </p> <table width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="vertical-align:top;background-color:#f5faff" border="1"> <tbody><tr> <td>Belgium </td> <td>(BE) </td> <td>Spain </td> <td>(ES) </td> <td>Hungary </td> <td>(HU) </td> <td>Slovakia </td> <td>(SK) </td></tr> <tr> <td>Bulgaria </td> <td>(BG) </td> <td>France </td> <td>(FR) </td> <td>Malta </td> <td>(MT) </td> <td>Finland </td> <td>(FI) </td></tr> <tr> <td>Czechia </td> <td>(CZ) </td> <td>Croatia </td> <td>(HR) </td> <td>Netherlands </td> <td>(NL) </td> <td>Sweden </td> <td>(SE) </td></tr> <tr> <td>Denmark </td> <td>(DK) </td> <td>Italy </td> <td>(IT) </td> <td>Austria </td> <td>(AT) </td> <td>Germany </td> <td>(DE) </td></tr> <tr> <td>Cyprus </td> <td>(CY) </td> <td>Poland </td> <td>(PL) </td> <td><i>Iceland</i> </td> <td>(<i>IS</i>) </td> <td>Estonia </td> <td>(EE) </td></tr> <tr> <td>Latvia </td> <td>(LV) </td> <td>Portugal </td> <td>(PT) </td> <td><i>Liechtenstein</i> </td> <td>(<i>LI</i>) </td> <td>Ireland </td> <td>(IE) </td></tr> <tr> <td>Lithuania </td> <td>(LT) </td> <td>Romania </td> <td>(RO) </td> <td><i>Norway</i> </td> <td>(<i>NO</i>) </td> <td>Greece </td> <td>(EL) </td></tr> <tr> <td>Luxembourg </td> <td>(LU) </td> <td>Slovenia </td> <td>(SI) </td></tr></tbody></table> <h2 class="ecl-u-type-heading-2"><span class="mw-headline" id="Related_concepts">Related concepts</span></h2> <ul><li><a href="/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:European_Free_Trade_Association_(EFTA)" title="Glossary:European Free Trade Association (EFTA)">European Free Trade Association (EFTA)</a></li> <li><a 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Glossary:European Economic Area (EEA) - Statistics Explained