their Geographical Neighbourhood

Andrea Ascani, Riccardo Crescenzi and Simona Iammarino
(panel C). It is not surprising that about 62% of EU-15 investors still choose to
remain in the EU by selecting a destination among NMS. 6 In this area, Romania,
Poland and Hungary are the top three destinations, with about 14.7%, 10.9% and
9.8% of EU-15 investment, respectively. The trend over the 2000s, however,
suggests that the huge attractiveness of NMS reached its peak in anticipation to
the full EU membership and it is now declining, replicating a pattern rather
typical of previous EU enlargements and restructuring. In the NCs, instead,
MNEs’ presence has increased particularly since the mid-2000s. In terms of
cumulative inflows, the most selected destination outside the European Union is
Russia, with a share of 19%. The rest of the Balkans and the East attracts an
additional 10% of EU-15 investment in the area, whilst Northern Africa and
Middle East account for about 8%.
6 Most of NMS entered the EU in 2004, while Romania and Bulgaria joined in 2007.
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