But what happens when new members start to unpick some of the reforms they made during their accession process?
The accession process takes years, as countries have to fulfil a long list of requirements - economic, social and judicial.
But he seems committed to Turkey's EU accession process, even to pursuing liberalising reforms in Turkey if its EU hopes are dashed.
Olli Rehn, the EU's current enlargement chief, likens the EU accession process to a journey that matters as much as the destination.
So as long as islands of excellence within national bureaucracies were able to churn out what the invigilators in Brussels wanted, the accession process trundled happily along.
The new EU members have not only undergone comprehensive legal and political reforms as part of the EU accession process, they are physically close to fully developed Western markets.
While Turkey is not currently part of the European Union, it has been associated with the accession process, which allows companies to import and export without taxes, Sami says.
Croatia joining the EU will be "highly beneficial" for the accession process, according to Bender, as it will inspire other "young democracies" in the Balkans and beyond to join the European movement.
One of the great ironies of the Sanader years is that the changes that he helped oversee and which were part of the EU accession process, were to lead to his downfall and imprisonment.
Turkey began EU accession negotiations in 2005, but the process has been extremely slow.
Over the last three years, the United States and Russia have been able to make significant progress on a wide range of issues, including the New START Treaty, the 1, 2, 3 Agreement, the work we've done on Russia's accession to the WTO, and setting up a presidential process whereby issues of trade and commerce, science, technology are all discussed at a much more intensive level.
In its WTO accession agreement, China also committed to simplify and streamline the approval process for wireless communications equipment into a single process but has not yet done so.
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