The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is the intergovernmental organisation of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Set up in 1960 by the Stockholm Convention for the promotion of free trade and economic integration, it offered another form of ‘European integration’, different to the EU – more intergovernmental, less integrated and with the capacity to allow its states to negotiate their own trade agreements. It is, however, something of a Cinderella model, forgotten by states in the rush to join the EU and integrate ever more. The countries that were and, in part still are, members of EFTA are rather like-minded and may, historically and politically, be called ‘friends of the UK’ (from Portugal via Switzerland to Finland). The driving force behind the original EFTA model was the UK, determined to find another way of inter-state cooperation outside the EU. Given that EFTA covers many matters the UK might need in its future ‘life’ outside the EU but in Europe, a closer look at EFTA might be helpful. It is unlikely that the UK would rejoin EFTA, at least in the short to medium term, but it would be a way of ‘coming home’. A book analysing the EFTA Convention in depth has never been written before and there is no better person to write it than Dr Georges Baur, who worked for the EFTA secretariat for 15 years and whose deep familiarity with EFTA, the EEA and the EU means that he can provide deep insights into this subject. Now working in Liechtenstein, Georges has had the opportunity to reflect and consider the different models which he has worked with throughout his professional career, and this has helped to inform his rich legal analysis.