The EU's attitude towards Eastern Enlargement in space

This paper analyzes empirically the determinants of the EU countries' attitude towards enlargement during the pre-enlargement phase. The empirical specification is motivated from the perspectives of old and new trade theory. A variety of spatial econometric estimators is employed to assess the importance of the trade-related determinants as well as the extent of spatial dependence in the EU's opinion on accession countries. This spatial approach enables us to differentiate between straightforward direct effects on the one hand and feedback effects related to space and geography.