Brussels, 30/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the European Commission officially launched talks on visa facilitation and readmission with five Balkan States: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Albania is the only one of these countries that has a readmission agreement with the EU. “Our ambition is to come up with the agreements as soon as possible in 2007”, said Franco Frattini, Commissioner for Justice, Security and Freedom. “I am not talking only about finalising the agreements, but implementing all the agreements before the end of 2007”, he added. The Commissioner had recently said that he hoped to be able to conclude the talks by the end of June next year. He specified that negotiations would aim to strike a balance between facilitating movement and the need to ensure security and crime prevention, such as people trafficking and drug trafficking. On this point, Mr Frattini welcomed the commitments taken by the ministers. The Commission also undertook to exempt these countries from the visa price increase that is to come about on 1 January 2007, and to allow some categories, such as students, to benefit from visas free of charge. Formal negotiations will begin mid-December. (bc)