Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman on Monday chaired a political dialogue and informal meeting of the ministers of the European Economic Area (EEA). EFTA member states that are part of the EEA were led by Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide. Also participating were Lichtenstein’s Foreign Minister Katrin Eggenberger and Iceland’s Foreign Minister Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson.
The participants first discussed the external dimension of the COVID-19 crisis, while Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier gave a briefing on the status of talks with the UK.
Next on the agenda was a discussion on the European Green Deal with Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans. The participants underscored that despite the health crisis, the European Green Deal should remain the basis of the necessary economic transformation towards sustainable development and climate neutrality, which are among the EU’s main long-term goals.
The ministers and EU officials also exchanged views on the impact of COVID-19 on the internal market and the EEA Agreement. “Even though the internal market has shown its resilience and adaptiveness in this crisis, full recovery of the Union’s economy is a health and logistical challenge that requires coordination of the exit strategies and recovery plans of market participants,” Grlić Radman said.
The present parties then adopted a joint statement, underscoring that the functioning of the internal market was in their joint interest. The statement stresses the importance of responding to the crisis in the spirit of solidarity as well as the necessity of reducing the social and economic differences among European regions.
As the meeting’s chair, Grlić Radman thanked the EEA members for their participation. “The COVID-19 outbreak is a problem that we need to deal with together and find joint solutions. Multilateral cooperation is the only efficient response to the pandemic, which is why I applaud this meeting as an important step towards the EU and EEA’s recovery,” said the minister.