| EFTA (current) EFTA (now in EU) | CEFTA (current) CEFTA (now in EU) | BAFTA (now in EU) |
At present, there are two free trade areas (FTAs) in Europe outside of the European Union (EU). The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was created in 1960 by the outer seven (as a looser alternative to the then-European Communities) but most of its membership has since joined the Communities/EU leaving only four countries still party to it. Following the fall of the Iron Curtain, two FTAs were created in Eastern Europe, the Baltic Free Trade Area (BAFTA) and the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), in order to stabilise these countries for membership of the EU. With the 2004 EU enlargement, the original members of both of these have left these agreements and joined the EU.
While BAFTA has ceased to exist, CEFTA has expanded into southern Europe with members from the Western Balkans and Moldova. All of the new CEFTA countries, except for Moldova, are prospective members of the EU and hence EFTA is the only FTA with a long term future, as there are no immediate plans for these countries to change their present status. However, CEFTA may gain new members in the form of countries to the east of the present EU.[1][2]
Baltic Free Trade Area
The Baltic Free Trade Area was a free trade agreement between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that existed between 1994 and 2004.
BAFTA was created to help prepare the countries for their accession to the European Union (the European Communities before 1993). Hence, BAFTA was created more as an initiative of the Communities than out of a desire Baltic states to trade between themselves: they were more interested in gaining access to the western European markets.[3]
BAFTA's agreement was signed by the three states on 13 September 1993 and came into force on 1 April 1994. On 1 January 1997 the agreement was extended to cover trade in agricultural produce. On 1 May 2004, all three states joined the European Union, and BAFTA ceased to exist.
BAFTA was part of general co-operation between the three countries, modelled on Nordic co-operation (see Nordic Council). Leaders met regularly and, as well as a free trade area, they formed a common visa area and started military co-operation due to the proximity of Russia.[4]
See also
- Norway and the European Union
- Iceland and the European Union
- Switzerland and the European Union
- European Economic Area
- Inner Six/Outer Seven
References
- ^ "EU Looks East as Foreign Policy Council Convenes" dw-world.de 25 May 2008 Link accessed 25/05/08
- ^ " Poland, Sweden propose new EU outreach for eastern Europe" iht.com 26 May 2008 Link accessed 26/05/08
- ^ Reviving the European union By C. Randall Henning, Eduard Hochreiter, Gary Clyde Hufbauer Google books
- ^ Baltic regional co-operation, Iivi Zájedová, Slovenská politologická revue
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