OP:10. An Eastern Enlargement of EFTA: Why the East Europeans Should Join and the EFTAns Should Want Them
Author(s): R Baldwin
Publication Date: November 1992

Abstract: The major EFTA nations plan to quit the Association and join the EC in the latter half of the 1990s. This changes the issue of an eastern enlargement of EFTA from a question of 'why' to a question of 'why not'. Both the Central and East European Countries (CEECs) and the current EFTAns would benefit from the enlargement. For the CEECs, EFTA would bring them closer to the European Economic Area and eventual EC membership. In the meantime, EFTA membership would counter the economic and political marginalization implicit in the bilateral trade deals they have signed with West Europe. For the incumbent EFTAns it would providemoderate gains at a very small cost. It would help their firms develop business ties in a market with enormous growth potential; it would help counter the anti-EFTA discrimination implicit in the 'EC-mania' currently observed in East Europe; and it would boost the EFTAns' leverage on EC trade policy upon accession. This latter point is important after accede to the Community they will find themselves shackled to trade policies designed for countries with much less commercial and political interests in the CEECs.

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