Brussels, 20/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Economic Area Council (EEA), which met on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Hubert Védrine and Halldor Asgrimsson (Icelandic Foreign Minister), drew up a positive account of the way in which the EEA agreement works. "The Council is pleased that this agreement continues to work well and noted that the Joint EEA Committee has, since the last EEA Council session, adopted 23 decisions for integrating into the EEA agreement Community acts on the various areas covered by the agreement, mainly the four freedoms and the EU programmes", stated the joint press release adopted at the close of the session by the EU foreign ministers and those of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The EEA Council also noted with satisfaction that the EEA/EFTA countries continue to "largely participate" in the EU's process of conception of legislation and Community programmes of interest to the EEA, and noted many initiatives taken or announced by the EU, in which the EEA will in some way or another be involved (establishment of a European Food Authority, the initiative aimed at creating a European authority for the safety of air navigation, the negotiation of a common European airspace, debates on maritime safety, etc.).