Ambassador Thorir Ibsen (centre), The Icelandic Mission to the EU, chairing the meeting of the EFTA Standing Committee, with Deputy Head of the Icelandic Mission, Nikulas Hannigan (right), and Secretary-General of the EFTA Secretariat, Kåre Bryn (left).
The EFTA Standing Committee and EEA Joint Committee met in Brussels on 9 and 10 February, respectively. Iceland chaired the Standing Committee and represented the EEA EFTA States in the Joint Committee under the chairmanship of the European External Action Service.
In the Standing Committee, the Norwegian delegation reported on the meeting of Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre with his Danish counterpart Villy Søvndal and the Danish Minister for European Affairs, Nicolai Wammen. Iceland reported on meetings between Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson and the Romanian President of parliament and members of government, and a visit by the Foreign Minister to Cyprus where he met members of government and parliament. Moreover, the Icelandic Minister for Economic Affairs, Fisheries and Agriculture, Steingrímur Sigfússon, had met with Commissioners Damanaki, Cioloş and Füle. The Icelandic delegation also reported on the status of Iceland’s accession process to the European Union, and the EFTA Secretary-General updated the Committee on recent developments in EFTA’s third-country relations.
Finally, the Standing Committee discussed a request for public access to documents and agreed to proceed by written procedure.
In the Joint Committee meeting, 32 decisions were adopted incorporating 58 legal acts into the EEA Agreement, and a list of corrigenda was approved. One of the decisions, on the European Framework Directive on Motor Vehicles, is described in more detail in a separate news item on this website.