The geography of trade relations between the EU and the ENP countries : emerging patterns and policy recommendations

The European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), launched in 2004, is a unified European Union (EU) policy framework towards the EU neighboring (ENP) countries. The objective of the ENP is to strengthen the prosperity, stability and security of the (enlarged) EU countries and the ENP countries. Even though the ENP is distinct from the process of EU enlargement, the ENP countries operate under conditions of "neighborhood Europeanization". The objective of the paper is to provide the backdrop against which the success of the ENP undertaking can be evaluated. It does so by providing a deep and comprehensive empirical analysis of the geography of trade relations (i.e. the size, the composition and the direction of exports and imports flows) between the EU and the ENP countries. The findings of the paper illustrate the emerging patterns of trade relations among the EU and the ENP countries, allowing for the provision of specific policy recommendations.