Norway reached a trade agreement with the Community following the referendum results. This trade agreement remained in force until Norway entered the European Economic Area on 1 January 1994. [20] In view of the continuing need to reduce economic and social inequalities in the European Economic Area, on 7 October 2013 the Council authorised the Commission to start negotiations with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to reach agreement on the future financial contributions of EEA-EFTA states to improving economic and social cohesion in the European Economic Area. 1 Formal negotiations began in January 2014. At the same time, regardless of the negotiations on the financial mechanism, a review of the EU-Iceland and EU-Norway trade protocols was launched on the basis of the revision clause of the additional protocols to the free trade agreements with Norway and Iceland. 2 Differences of opinion on this issue are known to cause divisions within families and local communities. Although there is a general pattern that urban communities are pro-accession and that rural communities do not, all Norwegian regions had noisy minorities. When the EEA came into force in 1994, there were 17 states and two European Communities: the European Community, which was later integrated into the enlarged EU framework, and the European Coal and Steel Community, which no longer exists. The number of members has increased to 30 in 2020: 27 EU Member States and three of the four EFTA Member States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). [8] The agreement will be applied provisionally to Croatia – the rest and the youngest EU Member State – until all parties to the EEA have ratified its accession. [4] [13] The United Kingdom is, on a temporary basis, a member of the EEA on 31 January 2020 and has joined a transitional period until 31 December 2020. During the transitional period, the EEA agreement remains unchanged and continues to apply to other EEA members and the United Kingdom, as the UK continues to be regarded as an EEA state. [14] One EFTA member, Switzerland, did not join the EEA, but concluded a series of bilateral sectoral agreements with the EU allowing it to participate in the internal market.

When a state joins the EU, it does not necessarily immediately become a member of the EEA, but must apply. [32] Following the enlargement of the European UNION in 2007, to which Bulgaria and Romania joined on 1 January 2007, an EEA enlargement agreement was not signed until 25 July 2007 and did not enter into force provisionally until 1 August 2007. [33] [34] [25] The agreement did not enter into full force until November 9, 2011. [25] On the other hand, the EEA agreement was provisionally applied to the ten candidate countries in May 2004, from their accession to the EU. [35] The EEA agreement allows Norway access to the EU`s internal market.