The EEA: An Alternative to the EU?

The establishment of the European Communities, the enlargement from the original six to a community of twelve and in particular the single market, established by the Single European Act, (1986), necessitated a closer link both between European states not part of the (then) European Communities, and between these states and the European Communities.

The negotiations started in June 1990, the EEA Agreement was signed in May 1992, and entered into force in January 1994. Since the completion of the EEA Agreement, the treaties constituting the European Communities have been changed a number of times, and the European Communities have been transformed to The European Union.

From an EEA perspective there are in particular two changes that are worth reflecting on; the increase in the European Parliament’s legislative role and the removal of the three-pillar structure. The main part of the EEA Agreement, however, remains unchanged. And because nothing – from the perspective of the EEA Agreement – has changed, it could be argued that a lot of things have.

In case E-9/97 Sveinbjörnsdóttir, the EFTA Court found that the EEA Agreement contains «a distinct legal order of its own», different both from the legal order of the European Union and from what is usual for agreements under public international law. 

The task of this paper is to elaborate upon the characteristics of the EEA legal order, and thereby also discuss the viability of this association agreement as an alternative to membership in the EU.