GG
I am actually shocked to think you have contributed so often to Brexit threads and have asked this question as the EEA has been mentioned on numerous occasions.
Might I suggest you look at past threads starting with the
' BREXIT? Am I just plain stupid? ' thread as you were frequently posting whilst posts were flying back and forth discussing the EEA as one of the tropics so it might refresh something in your mind.
Does this also help:-
Countries in the EU and EEA
The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 28 countries. It operates an internal (or single) market which allows free movement of goods, capital, services and people between member states.
EU countries
The EU countries are:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
The European Economic Area (EEA)
The EEA includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It allows them to be part of the EU’s single market.
Switzerland is neither an EU nor EEA member but is part of the single market - this means Swiss nationals have the same rights to live and work in the UK as other EEA nationals.
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The key words are obviously 'Single Market' !
Access to the Single Market requires all countries in the EU/ EFTA /EEA to abide by the 4 Freedoms/Pillars:-
' The free movement of goods, services, capital and persons within the EU are the famous “four freedoms” set out in the Treaty of Rome.
The same principles are now extended under the "internal market” rules introduced by the Single European Act.
The four freedoms are strengthened in the Lisbon Treaty, also by a special Protocol 27.'