ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the interaction of political elites and the public in Germany regarding eastern enlargement. In response to manifest public concerns, engagement by the parties with the theme of enlargement intensified and included intimations of a populist or opportunist nature. Differences between the goals and preferences of political elites and the wider public are present in most polities. If there is a zone of pan-EU policy-making it does not correspond to a collective European electorate. Germany is not the only country where elite dominance of European political affairs occurs. This applies to most other European states. Eastern enlargement affected public opinion on Germany's European Union (EU) membership per se. A referendum in Germany would have contributed little in the way of overcoming difficulties inherent in the transformation of Central and Eastern European Countries.
