From left to right: Thomas Aeschi, Chair of the Swiss delegation, Kurt Jäger, EFTA Secretary-General, Manfred Kaufmann, Chair of the Liechtenstein delegation, Trine Lise Sundnes, Chair of the Norwegian delegation, Christel Schaldemose, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Daniel Seger, Vice-Chair of the Liechtenstein delegation.
On 15 October 2024, four EFTA parliamentarians visited Brussels to engage with new key players in the European Parliament at the start of the new political term.
The delegation, which represented the Bureau of the Committee of Members of Parliament of the EFTA States (MPS), was led by Manfred Kaufmann from the Liechtenstein Parliament. Trine Lise Sundnes (Norwegian Parliament), Thomas Aeschi (Swiss Parliament) and Daniel Seger (Liechtenstein Parliament) were also part of the delegation.
The EFTA delegation had the privilege of meeting with Christel Schaldemose, a long-standing and experienced Member of the European Parliament elected Vice President in charge of relations with the EFTA States and the EEA cooperation.
During the meeting, Mr Kaufmann emphasised that the EFTA States were the EU’s closest political and economic partners. They participate in the Single Market through the EEA Agreement or – in the case of Switzerland – via a set of bilateral treaties. He recalled that the EEA Agreement had turned 30 in 2024, and appealed to the relevant Committee Chairs to bear in mind that their legislative work on the Single Market impacted not just the 27 EU Member States, but all 30 EEA States.
The visit also provided the opportunity to meet with Andreas Schwab, the recently elected Chair of the Delegation for Northern Cooperation and for Relations with Switzerland and Norway and to the EU–Iceland Joint Parliamentary Committee and the European Economic Area Joint Parliamentary Committee (DEEA), and with Christophe Grudler, another DEEA member. Mr Kaufmann introduced the programme and agenda for the 62nd meeting of the EEA Joint Parliamentary Committee (EEA JPC) scheduled for 21 and 22 November in Oslo, where the MPS would meet jointly with the DEEA.
As ensuring Europe’s competitiveness was one of the core political priorities for the next term, the delegation also held a session on how completing the Single Market could be an enabler in boosting the competitiveness of European companies. The EFTA parliamentarians discussed the matter with Niclas Poitiers, Senior Research Fellow at Bruegel, who emphasised that “liberalising trade in services within the Single Market carries the most potential to lift the growth trajectory”.
The MPS is a forum for parliamentarians from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Its role is to advise the EFTA States on their relations with the EU and the EEA cooperation. The MPS meets twice a year with the DEEA in the form of the EEA JPC, where representatives of the EEA EFTA States and the EU discuss the functioning of the EEA Agreement. Swiss Parliamentarians participate in this work as observers.
