The thirty-seventh meeting of the EEA Council took place in Brussels on 14 May 2012. The EEA Council assessed the overall functioning of the EEA Agreement, including maintaining and enhancing the homogeneity of the EEA; the financial crisis and its implications for EEA cooperation; decision making and shaping; energy and climate change and the operation of the financial mechanisms. The EEA Council held an orientation debate on Strategies for Growth in Europe.

Members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and social partners from Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein met in Akureyri, Iceland on 3-4 May 2012 for the 20th meeting of the EEA Consultative Committee (EEA CC).

The EFTA Standing Committee and EEA Joint Committee met in Brussels on 30 April. Iceland chaired the Standing Committee and represented the EEA EFTA States in the Joint Committee under the chairmanship of the European External Action Service.

One of the EU legal acts incorporated into the EEA Agreement on 30 April 2012 establishes a procedure for the identification and designation of European critical infrastructure, such as airports, subways, railway stations and power plants. The European Critical Infrastructure Directive also deals with the need to improve the safeguarding of such infrastructure in order to protect people better.