On 26 February 1959, the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community (EEC) notes the problems encountered in Oslo by the Governments of Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom with regard to the establishment of a free-trade area.

On 21 July 1959, Ministers from Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, meeting in Saltsjöbaden, Sweden, approve the establishment of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and announce that negotiations will continue with a view to the establishment of a Nordic Common Market.

En automne 1991, Gérard Bauer, ancien représentant de la Confédération suisse auprès de l'Organisation européenne de coopération économique (OECE) et de la Haute Autorité de la Communauté européenne du charbon et de l'acier (CECA), passe au crible dans la revue Cadmos que publie à Genève le Centre européen de la Culture les enjeux pour la Communauté économique européenne (CEE) et pour l'Association européenne de libre-échange (AELE) de la négociation en cours sur l'Espace économique européen (EEE).

On 18 May 1992, the Swiss Federal Council drafts a report analysing the advantages and disadvantages of possible Swiss accession to the European Community.

On 20 May 1992, René Felber and François Couchepin, respectively President and Chancellor of the Swiss Confederation, send to João de Deus Pinheiro, Portuguese Foreign Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Communities, a letter in which they officially submit Switzerland’s application for accession to the EEC.

In a referendum held on 6 December 1992, the Swiss vote against the accession of their country to the European Economic Area (EEA). The German cartoonist, Walter Hanel, portrays the path leading to the EEA as one fraught with pitfalls.

On 23 April, at the Congress of the Association of Swiss Foreign Trade Chambers, Bénédict de Tscharner, Ambassador and Head of the Swiss Mission to the European Communities, sets out Switzerland’s European policy after the negative outcome of the referendum on the accession of the country to the European Economic Area (EEA).