One of the economic alliances that exist in the European continent is the EFTA, whose initials come from English, specifically the European Free Tade Association, which in Spanish is normally translated as European Free Trade Association. The countries that currently comprise it are four: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. This supranational association was founded in 1960 to compete with the European Union and throughout its history some nations left EFTA to join the European Union, for example Austria, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Purposes and strategies
As its name indicates, the purpose is to promote free trade among its member nations and, at the same time, to foster cooperation among its members.
To achieve its objectives, EFTA is based on two fundamental principles: the free market understood as synonymous with economic prosperity and the need to establish fair competitive relationships among its members. On the other hand, the citizens of the nations that comprise it are guaranteed free movement in the EFTA territory and the social security systems are fully coordinated.
One of the mechanisms promoted by EFTA is to improve coordination in relation to exports and imports among member countries. To this end, internal measures have been adopted to avoid protectionism in multilateral relations. Because of this, EFTA member countries do not impose special rates on commercial activity.
Agriculture, fishing and health are considered three strategic sectors within the association.
Practices that EFTA considers incompatible with its purposes
For the commercial exchange to be fluid and fruitful, the established agreements indicate two types of general incompatibilities:
1) companies from these countries will not be able to reach agreements that are contrary to those promoted by EFTA and
2) no member country may adopt a monopoly position in any economic sector.
UK could rejoin EFTA after BREXIT
At the end of 2016 the British decided in a referendum to leave the European Union. This situation has caused some instability in the UK and in the EU itself. Some analysts argue that the United Kingdom could request re-entry into the EFTA, since in this way the British would maintain commercial relations with the EU even if they were not part of it.
Photos: Fotolia - psdesign1 / dglavinova
