Slovakia Discusses Entry into the European Economic Area

On Wednesday, Slovakia along with other future members of the EU began talks about entry to the European Economic Area in Brussels (EEA). The members of the EEA are 15 union member countries as well as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Entering the European Economic Market is an obligation for every state that was invited to enter the EU in Copenhagen. The results of the talks will be a protocol, which will change the current agreement about the EEA and will adjust it to the new situation. The aim is to ratify the protocol at the time the future EU members will be entering the EU. This is planed for May 1, 2004.