EFTA and free trade
Stockholm, Geneva, Brussels
Key figures: Ernst Brugger
HLS (German): European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
Two Europes (1957). In 1957 six countries found the European Economic Community (EEC) in Rome, with a common market and common policies. Switzerland, neutral and federalist, does not want to give up sovereignty; the plan for a large free trade area covering all of Western Europe also fails.
Stockholm, 4 January 1960. Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal and Sweden sign the convention of the European Free Trade Association in Stockholm, in force from 3 May 1960. The aim is to abolish tariffs on industrial goods between the members, without a customs union or supranational institutions. Its seat is in Geneva.
The agreement with the EEC (1972). When the United Kingdom and Denmark move to the EEC, the other EFTA countries negotiate free trade agreements with the Community. The Swiss one, signed on 22 July 1972 by Federal Councillor Ernst Brugger, frees over 90% of Swiss exports to the EEC from tariffs. On 3 December 1972 the people and the cantons approve it with 72.5% of the vote and every canton in favour: according to the historian Sacha Zala, the Federal Council’s European policy will never again enjoy such broad support.
EFTA today. Many members have moved to the European Union; today EFTA consists of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Three of them belong to the European Economic Area, which Switzerland rejected in 1992 (see the stage). Together they negotiate free trade agreements with dozens of countries around the world.
The EFTA countries: in dark green the current members (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland), in light green former members that joined the European Union
Kolja21 after Júlio Reis, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5