Brussels, 18/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the EU and Ukraine signed two agreements: one on easing procedures for issuing visas and the other on the readmission of illegal immigrants. These agreements will mean that “Ukrainians will now be able to travel more easily while maintaining the efforts to clamp down on illegal migration,” Commission Vice President Franco Frattini said in a press release. The agreements will come into effect once both sides have completed their internal ratification procedures, and, it is hoped, before the end of the year. The definitive texts of the agreements were initialled at the EU-Ukraine summit in Helsinki in October 2006 (see EUROPE 9295). (bc)