The European Commission has prepared for the Member States annual reports on the progress of the candidate countries towards membership of the European Union every autumn since 1998. These reports provide the basis for decisions to be made by the Member States in the framework of the enlargement process. The reports are accompanied by a strategy paper that makes recommendations to the member states regarding these decisions. The reports this year are particularly significant, since the analysis they make enables the Commission finally to recommend that the accession negotiations be closed by the end of this year with a number of the candidates.