Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are part of the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement, which includes access to the EU Internal Market, and are contributing to European cohesion policies through the EEA Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. The two financial mechanisms will make close to 1.2 billion euros available to projects aimed at reducing economic and social disparities in the EEA, which was expanded to 28 member states at the time of the EU enlargement in May 2004.
The two financial mechanisms will make funding available to the 10 new EU members and to Greece, Portugal and Spain in a five-year period until 2009. The seminar - entitled ‘Managing the EEA & the Norwegian Financial Mechanism: lessons from EU cohesion policy’ – was attended by representatives from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, the European Commission and the recipient countries of the financial mechanisms for presentations, discussions and workshops.