The European Economic Area (or EEA) waswas established in the early 1990s. The idea of uniting Europe literally soared in the air and the minds of prominent politicians of that time since the 1920s. A series of conflicts pushed the actual creation of an alliance in the sphere of the economy for a rather long period. But the unification processes were largely activated immediately after the Second World War. Today, the EEA is a separate sector in the world economy, but in many respects inferior to the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasian Economic Community).
History of the formation of the economic union
The creation of the European Economic Area is closelyis connected with the formation of the European Union as a whole. The formation of the EU is legally enshrined in the 1992 legal agreement. 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.
Так, еще в начале 1920-х в немецкой прессе the phrase "United States of Europe" appears. A year later, the Austrian philosopher advocated the creation of a pan-European organization, and one of the high-ranking French ministers in 1929 called on citizens and state apparatus to join the European Federal Union.
In the post-war years, one after another, allnew alliances and associations: the Movement for a Unified Europe, the European Payments Union and the European Union, Euroatom, 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.
They came to the common system a little later,but it was not perfect either. By the 1960s, Europe has been united by a common market and agricultural policy, and in the higher circles they are starting to form a currency union and economic reorganization. Plans for politicians are grandiose, but to this day 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 EconomicThe zone includes 28 EU countries, as well as Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland - three out of four (+ Switzerland) members of the European Free Trade Association. Switzerland is not a member of the EEA legally, but the country has all the rights and obligations of a member of the European Economic Area. The participating countries are also complemented by San Marino, Andorra, Monaco and the Vatican, which are not de jure members of the union, but due to the association with Spain, Italy and France, they are actually located in the EEA territory. 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:Great Britain, Greece, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, France, Finland, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Sweden and Estonia;
- the three states of the Free Trade Association: Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland;
- Andorra, Vatican, Monaco and San Marino, whichthey are members of the EEA only territorially; they do not have the rights and obligations of the participating countries (except for the right of citizens of these countries to work in some EU countries).
Деятельность организации направлена на the formation and maintenance of a common market, which includes: free trade and the provision of services, the free movement of financial capital and resources (including labor). The legislation of the states of the European Economic Area is given to the general in matters of ecology, trade, social policy, regulation of the work of businesses and individuals, and statistics.
EEA and Russia, EurAsEC
European Economic Area for a number of reasonsis a less integrated entity than the EurAsEC in conjunction with the Customs Union and the United CAC (Central Asian States) Organization.
Freedom of economic cooperation andThe development 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 various times were Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia, forms common customs borders and generates common tariffs, prices and foreign policy.
Потенциал ЕврАзЭС объективно значительнее European Economic Area. Especially the statement concerns raw materials, natural resources and the demographic factor. Prospects for the 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 a European organization seems to be. The European Economic Area is a closed entity, while the EurAsEC is an open organization that arouses the interest of many states (and not only in the post-Soviet space).
