ABSTRACT

This chapter looks at the integration policies of the four European neutrals (Austria, Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland) that, together with Norway and Iceland, form the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In November 1971, the Council of Ministers of the European Community (EC) authorized the EC Commission to open negotiations with the neutrals and the other EFTA countries on bilateral free-trade agreements. The EFTA countries were forced to accept the strict rules that the EC had already applied for the Associated African States and Madagascar according to the Yaoundd Conventions. The EFTA countries expected that EC-EFTA relations would develop parallel to the internal market. On January 17, 1989, in a speech before the European Parliament, President Jacques Delors brought a new perspective to EC-EFTA relations. The EFTA option has simply not been accepted by the relevant groups in Austria as an alternative to full membership.