Editing European Economic Area (section)

==Origins==
{{see also|1995 enlargement of the European Union|2004 enlargement of the European Union|2007 enlargement of the European Union}}

In the late 1980s, the EFTA member states, led by Sweden, began looking at options to join the then-existing [[European Economic Community]] (EEC), the precursor of the European Union (EU). The reasons identified for this are manifold. Many authors cite the economic downturn at the beginning of the 1980s, and the subsequent adoption by the EEC of the "Europe 1992 agenda", as a primary reason. Arguing from a [[liberal intergovernmentalism|liberal intergovernmentalist]] perspective, these authors argue that large multinational corporations in EFTA countries, especially Sweden, pressed for EEC membership under threat of relocating their production abroad. Other authors point to the end of the [[Cold War]], which made joining the EEC less politically controversial for neutral countries.<ref name="Bache and George">Bache, Ian and Stephen George (2006) ''Politics in the European Union.'' Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 543–548.</ref>

Meanwhile, [[Jacques Delors]], who was [[President of the European Commission]] at the time, did not like the idea of the EEC enlarging with more member states, as he feared that it would impede the ability of the Community to complete internal market reform and establish monetary union. He proposed a European Economic Space (EES) in January 1989, which was later renamed the European Economic Area, as it is known today.<ref name="Bache and George"/>

By the time the EEA was established in 1994, however, several developments hampered its credibility. First of all, Switzerland rejected the EEA agreement in a national referendum on 6 December 1992, obstructing full EU-EFTA integration within the EEA. Furthermore, Austria had applied for full EEC membership in 1989, and was followed by Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland between 1991 and 1992 (Norway's EU accession [[1994 Norwegian European Union membership referendum|was rejected in a referendum]], Switzerland froze its EU application after the EEA agreement was [[1992 Swiss referendums|rejected in a referendum]]). [[Revolutions of 1989|The fall of the Iron Curtain]] had made the EU less hesitant to accept these highly developed countries as member states, since that would relieve the pressure on the EU's budget when the former socialist countries of Central Europe were to join.<ref name="Bache and George"/>