Liechtenstein–European Union relations

EU-Liechtenstein relations

European Union	Liechtenstein

Relations between the Principality of Liechtenstein (German: Fürstentum Liechtenstein) and the European Union (EU) are shaped heavily by Liechtenstein's participation in the European Economic Area (EEA).^{[citation needed]}

Comparison

	European Union	Liechtenstein
Population	447,206,135[1]	38,896 (2020 estimate)[2]
Area	4,324,782 km^2 (1,669,808 sq mi)[3]	160 km^2 (62 sq mi)
Population density	115/km^2 (300/sq mi)	237/km^2 (613.8/sq mi)
Capital	Brussels (de facto)	Vaduz
Global cities[4]	Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Frankfurt, Madrid, Brussels, Warsaw, Stockholm, Vienna, Dublin, Luxembourg, Munich, Lisbon, Prague	None
Government	Supranational parliamentary democracy based on the European treaties[5]	Unitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy
First leader	High Authority President Jean Monnet	Monarch Karl I
Current leader	Council President Charles Michel Commission President Ursula von der Leyen	Monarch Hans-Adam II Prime Minister Daniel Risch
Official languages	24 official languages, of which 3 considered "procedural" (English, French and German)[6]	German
Main religions	72% Christianity (48% Roman Catholicism, 12% Protestantism, 8% Eastern Orthodoxy, 4% Other Christianity), 23% non-Religious, 3% Other, 2% Islam	83.2% Christianity (73.4% Roman Catholic (official), 9.8% Other Christian), 7.0% No religion, 5.9% Islam, 3.9% Others[7]
Ethnic groups	Germans (ca. 83 million),[8] French (ca. 67 million), Italians (ca. 60 million), Spanish (ca. 47 million), Poles (ca. 46 million), Romanians (ca. 16 million), Dutch (ca. 13 million), Greeks (ca. 11 million), Portuguese (ca. 11 million), and others
GDP (nominal)	$16.477 trillion, $31,801 per capita	$5.155 billion, $143,151 per capita

Market access

Liechtenstein is the only microstate (not counting Iceland by population) that is part of the EEA. Liechtenstein joined the EEA on 1 May 1995 after becoming a full member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1991 (previously, it had participated in EFTA through Switzerland's membership). All EFTA states bar Switzerland are in the EEA, which gives them access to the EU single market. It also obliges Liechtenstein to apply European Union laws considered EEA-relevant. As of June 2016, around 5,000 of 23,000 EU legal acts in total were in force in the EEA.^[9] There is some further cooperation with the EU via Switzerland as Liechtenstein is highly integrated with the Swiss economy (including using the Swiss franc).^[10]

Schengen

Countries that could join the European Union

  Current members

  Candidate countries

  Applicant / potential candidate countries

  Membership possible

  Membership not possible

On 28 February 2008, Liechtenstein signed the Schengen Agreement and became part of the Schengen Area on 19 December 2011.^[11] Before this, Switzerland shared an open border with Liechtenstein and was already a full Schengen Area member. This open border was not considered a threat to European security because it would be highly difficult to enter Liechtenstein without first landing in or entering a Schengen state. The border with Austria was not open, and it was treated as an external border post by Austria and Liechtenstein, making it necessary to pass through customs and passport control before crossing.

Liechtenstein signed a Schengen association agreement with the European Union on 28 February 2008,^[12] and originally planned to join the Schengen Area on 1 November 2009. However, ratification was initially delayed at the behest of Sweden and Germany who felt that Liechtenstein had not done enough to fight tax evasion;^[13][14] the Council of Ministers eventually consented to the ratification of the protocol on 7 March 2011,^[15] with the protocol entering into force a month later.^[16] Liechtenstein was due to join the Schengen Area by the end of 2011^[17][18] and did so on 19 December.

Free Movement of Labour

Although a member of the European Economic Area Liechtenstein does not adhere to the free movement of labour unlike every other member of the European Union and EFTA because its small size and relative prosperity mean that it is vulnerable to high immigration.^[19]

Other agreements

There are further bilateral agreements between the two parties on matters such as taxation of savings. There are also ongoing talks on combating fraud and exchanging information on tax matters.^[10]

Diplomatic relations between Liechtenstein and EU member states

Country	Liechtenstein embassy	Reciprocal embassy	Notes
Austria	Vienna
Belgium	Brussels	Bern, Switzerland	Liechtenstein Mission to the EU
Bulgaria	Sofia
Croatia	Zagreb
Cyprus	Nicosia
Czech Republic	Prague
Denmark	Copenhagen
Estonia	Tallinn
Finland	Helsinki
France	Paris	Bern, Switzerland	Liechtenstein Mission to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg
Germany	Berlin	Bern, Switzerland
Greece	Athens
Hungary	Budapest
Ireland	Dublin
Italy	Rome
Latvia	Riga
Lithuania	Vilnius
Luxembourg	Luxembourg City
Malta	Valletta
Netherlands	The Hague
Poland	Warsaw
Portugal	Lisbon
Romania	Bucharest
Slovakia	Bratislava
Slovenia	Ljubljana
Spain	Madrid
Sweden	Stockholm

See also

• Microstates and the European Union
• Switzerland–European Union relations

References

1. "Population on 1 January". Eurostat. European Commission. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
2. "Amt für Statistik, Landesverwaltung Liechtenstein". Llv.li. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
3. "Field Listing – Area". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
4. Cities ranked "alpha" in 2020 by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. https://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2020t.html Archived 2020-08-24 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved 2015-01-21.
6. "European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Frequently asked questions on languages in Europe". europa.eu. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
7. "Central Intelligence Agency". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
8. "Population by sex and citizenship". Federal Statistical Office. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
9. "Directory of European Union legislation - EUR-Lex". Eur-lex.europa.eu. 2016-05-19. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
10. Principality of Liechtenstein, European External Action Service
11. Trukhachev, Vadim (22 December 2011). "Tiny state lost in the Alps becomes more accessible to foreigners". Pravda.Ru. Pravda. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
12. Protocol between the European Union, the European Community, the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein on the accession of the Principality of Liechtenstein to the Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Swiss Confederation’s association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis (OJ L 160, 2011, 18 June 2011, p. 3).
13. "Liechtenstein threatened with Swiss border controls". the Economist. 29 February 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
14. "Liechtenstein's Schengen-Accession Stopped". SR international—Radio Sweden. 19 May 2009. ^{[permanent dead link‍]}
15. "3073rd Council meeting, Employment and Social Policy (Provisional Version)" (PDF) (Press release). Council of the European Union. 7 March 2011. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
16. Notice concerning the entry into force of the Protocol between the European Union, the European Community, the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein on the accession of the Principality of Liechtenstein to the Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Swiss Confederation’s association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis (OJ L 160, 18 June 2011, p. 50).
17. AFP (7 March 2011). "Le Liechtenstein intègre Schengen". Le Figaro. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
18. "Fürstentum Liechtenstein neues Mitglied im Schengenraum". Stern.de. 7 March 2011. Archived from the original on 17 September 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
19. "Policy options for future migration from the European Economic Area: Interim report - Home Affairs Committee - House of Commons".