Committee on Foreign Affairs Ordinary meeting
10 November 2026
Contents updated on 10 Nov 2026
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AFET European Parliament
Follow its sittings00:08 - 02:51
Dear colleagues not actually present in masses yet, but those who have returned from the lunch break, welcome again. We will continue today's Foreign Affairs Committee meeting with item number 11. Before I do that, I would like to warmly welcome participants of the EU Diplomatic Academy. Are you here? Well, warm welcome.
One of you will be the HR/VP in 20 years. Good luck with that. And then, you will enjoy coming to AFET on a regular basis. We can then kick off with item number 11. This is an exchange of views on the backlog of implementing EU rules in countries that are part of the EEA Agreement.
I would like to warmly welcome Nicolas von Lingen, a regular and very popular guest in our committee, Head of Unit for the EEA, Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco and San Marino in the Commission's Secretariat-General. Thank you for joining us today. Vielen Dank. The Agreement on the European Economic Area, which has been in force since January 1994, brings together us as EU member states and the three EEA states, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, in our internal market. This agreement also forms a fundamental basis for relations between the EU and our non-EU partners with whom we share values and principles of democracy, the commitment to a rules-based international order, the respect for fundamental freedoms and rights and the adherence to the rule of law.
Look, I could tell you now a lot about what's happening in with the EEA. I think the reason, Mr. von Lingen, why we decided to invite you is that we traveled to Iceland as a foreign affairs committee a few days after the referendum. And of course, we didn't discuss the positive outcome of the referendum, but what we did discuss is that there is quite a considerable backlog now in the implementation of the necessary EU legislation also for EEA countries. So, we're facing this not only in Iceland, we're also facing this in Norway and we're keen to hear from you if it's also applies to Liechtenstein. So, I think what coordinators agreed is that to guarantee legal certainty and homogeneity across the internal market, it is simply essential that the EEA states incorporate all relevant EU acts into the agreement.
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