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In this article we examine three different ways to approach the study of EU Eastern enlargement process: first, from a utility-maximising perspective, second, from the values stemming from EU’s collective identity, and finally, using a deliberative framework. More specifically, we look at whether each of these different rationales can explain the decision to enlarge, the selection of the candidates and the opening of negotiations. In our conclusions, we argue that while an instrumental logic can account for a good deal of EU member states’actions, a logic of justification has a great potential to explain why member states have felt obliged to refer their actions not to material interests but to norms and principles accepted by all.