The members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) have traditionally been `reluctant Europeans' that preferred to remain outside the European Community (EC) in spite of their high economic dependence. This article analyses the EC-EFTA negotiations 1989-93 on the creation of a European Economic Area (EEA). It suggests one possible explanation for the puzzling question of why most of the EFTA countries have applied for full EC membership at a time when the Community has been offering them participation in its internal market in the form of the EEA and without the political burdens of the Maastricht Treaty. In highlighting the factors of uncertainty which characterized the complex bargaining process, the article shows that the outcome of the EEA involved a substantial loss of `operational sovereignty' for the EFTA countries without offering them satisfactory `voice opportunities' in return. Adding to the economic fears of exclusion, this disappointment is likely to have contributed to their policy change in favour of EC membership.
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