In 1994, the people of Iceland and Norway joined their European neighbours to establish a European Economic Area (EEA). Liechtenstein joined the following year.

The EEA has been the foundation for social and economic progress. Working together, the EEA States have been able to improve people’s lives by raising standards for social protection, the environment and health, and opening up new opportunities to travel, work, study, and live throughout the EEA.

Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, together with the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) and the EFTA Court, have developed the EFTA pillar of the EEA.  Through their ideas and values, they have shaped this pillar over the past 25 years. In that time, the EEA generation has grown up with a wealth of opportunity, and in an environment in which the benefits of the EEA can be seen and felt in everyday life.