Multilateral cooperation One of Liechtenstein’s focuses continues to be in the field of scholarships. In the respective program areas, the Liechtenstein Agency for International Education Affairs (AIBA) was named a «donor programme partner». A further special point of interest for Liechtenstein is the field of cultural exchange, in which the Ministry of Cultural Affairs works together with the competent Norwegian partner, the Arts Council Norway. With Croatia’s EU accession in July 2013, the period after 2014 will include an additional reci­ pient country in the EEA Financial Mechanism. At the margins of the EEA Council, an informal political dialogue takes place between the foreign ministers of the EEA/EFTA states and the foreign minister of the current EU Presidency. During Liechtenstein’s EEA Presidency in the second half of 2011, this opportunity was used to provide information about Liechtenstein’s foreign policy activities in the promotion of inter­ national criminal law. As an EEA member, Liechtenstein also receives all foreign policy statements of the EU, including decisions on the imposition of sanctions, with the possibility of association. Since 2008, Liechtenstein has joined more than 400 EU statements in this way. Since Liechtenstein’s accession to the Schengen/Dublin area on 19 December 2011, Liechten­ stein as an associated Schengen state has had the same rights and duties – in terms of both sovereignty policy and European policy – as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. On agenda items relevant to Schengen, Liechtenstein has direct access to the Council of the European Union and to the Committee of Permanent Representatives and can participate in the relevant committees of the European Commission. In this way, Liechtenstein is represented together with the 27 EU member states, the other EFTA states, the European Commission and the European External Action Service at all levels dealing with Schengen issues. Apart from the significance of Schengen membership as a corollary of the free move- If Liechtenstein had not joined the Schengen area, the open border with Switzerland could not have been maintained without restrictions. ment of persons in the Single Market, accession to the Schengen area is also about ensuring continuation of the advantageous border control regime with Switzerland, since the border to Switzerland had formally become an external Schengen border upon Switzerland’s accession. If Liechtenstein had not joined the Schengen area, the open borders with Switzerland pursuant to the Customs Treaty could not have been maintained without restrictions. Apart from concerns of sovereignty policy, European policy, and integration policy, Liechtenstein’s accession to Schengen was thus also guided by the practical desire to avoid negative consequences in relation to Switzerland. After Liechtenstein had more than three years time to prepare its association since signing the association protocols in February 2008, the evaluations conducted between April and September 2011 in the areas of data protection, police cooperation, and the Schengen Information System (SIS) were passed without problems. Accordingly, the Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs of the European Union decided unanimously on 13 December 2011 that Liechtenstein had met all conditions for accession. Liechtenstein joined the Schengen area as the 26th member. All national borders now constitute internal Schengen borders, at which | 41