EFTA social partners discuss EU-EFTA relations and Single Market Act

The EFTA ambassadors followed up with a discussion on the possible impact of the EU conclusions on the EEA and EU-Swiss Agreements. The joint meeting with the ambassadors also involved the annual exchange of views on the latest developments in the EEA and perspectives for 2011.

The Committee dedicated considerable time to the draft Single Market Act, including a presentation by Mr Jacques Pelkmans from the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS); a first discussion on a draft EEA Consultative Committee report and resolution; and EFTA CC participation in the European Economic and Social Committee's Internal Market Section meeting.

In the latter, the EFTA CC Chair, Mr Halldór Grönvold, presented the EFTA CC and underlined the importance of the EEA dimension of the Single Market. This is often overlooked in opinions and publications from the EU institutions. He stressed the fact that the EEA EFTA States are fully integrated members of the Single Market, and that they share the same legal framework and participate in many of the same agencies and programmes as the EU27 Member States and stakeholders. He urged partners on the EU side to consider this in their future opinions and pay careful attention to the fact that the Single Market is a European Economic Area consisting of 30 rather than 27 states.

Other topics on the EFTA CC agenda included the Europe 2020 flagship on skills and jobs, and EFTA's third-country relations. With regard to the latter, attention was drawn to the recent EFTA Parliamentary Committee delegation visit to Vietnam where the EFTA Consultative Committee was represented as an observer by its Vice-Chair, Mr Thomas Angell.

Jacques Pelkmans, CEPS