In seiner Ausgabe von Mai-Juli 1992 begrüßt das EFTA Bulletin die Unterzeichnung des Abkommens über den Europäischen Wirtschaftsraum (EWR) am 2. Mai 1992 in Porto.

Map showing the establishment, on 2 May 1992, and the development of the European Economic Area (EEA).

In 1992, the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) publishes an information booklet on the statistical situation of the European Economic Area (EEA).

„Der Mutsprung.“ Am 2. Mai 1992 unterzeichnet die österreichische Regierungskoalition zwischen SPÖ (Sozialdemokratischen Partei) und ÖVP (Österreichische Volkspartei) trotz der Proteste der Oppositionsparteien in Porto den Vertrag zur Gründung des Europäischen Wirtschaftsraums (EWR).

In summer 1990, in the monthly publication EFTA Bulletin, Sven Norberg, Director of Legal Affairs at the Secretariat of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in Geneva, outlines the importance of the legal and institutional implications, with particular regard to the decision-making process of the negotiations on the European Economic Space (EES), later to become the European Economic Area (EEA).

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 19 December 1989, Roland Dumas, French Foreign Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of Ministers of the European Community, Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson, Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and current Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Anita Gradin, Swedish Minister for Foreign Trade and Chairman of the EFTA Council of Ministers in the first half of 1990, Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Alois Mock, Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pertti Paasio, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Kjell Magne Bondevik, Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, comment on the joint declaration adopted following the EFTA-EC ministerial meeting held in Brussels.

In January 1989, Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, proposes the establishment of a European Economic Space (EES).

On 19 December 1989, in Brussels, the representatives of the Twelve and of the European Commission and those of the Member States of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) adopt a joint declaration regarding their decision to open negotiations in 1990 with a view to the establishment of a European Economic Space (EES), later to become the European Economic Area (EEA).