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Bridging the Widening Gap between the EU Treaties and the Agreement on the E uropean Economic Area
Author(s) -
Haukeland Fredriksen Halvard
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
european law journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.351
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1468-0386
pISSN - 1351-5993
DOI - 10.1111/eulj.12001
Subject(s) - bridging (networking) , domestic market , political science , law , work (physics) , order (exchange) , international trade , economics , law and economics , international economics , physics , finance , thermodynamics , computer network , computer science
For almost 20 years now, the E uropean F ree T rade A ssociation ( EFTA ) States I celand, L iechtenstein and N orway have been included in the EU 's internal market through the Agreement on the E uropean Economic Area ( EEA ). The continuing success of the EEA is threatened, however, by an ever widening gap between EU primary law and the still unchanged main part of the EEA A greement. Unwilling to begin the strenuous work of updating the A greement, the C ontracting P arties place their trust in the ability of the courts to bridge the gap. While it is shown in this article that both the EFTA C ourt and the C ourt of J ustice of the EU are indeed willing to go far in order to preserve homogeneity between EU law and EEA law, it is argued that there are limits to the courts' ability to remedy the failed updating of the A greement.