Brussels, 19/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 18 September, six months after talks opened, the EU and five Western Balkan states signed visa facilitation agreements with Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia; and readmission agreements with all these same countries except Albania. EU citizens are already exempt from the visa obligation by the Western Balkan countries. These new agreements were signed on behalf of the EU by Franco Frattini, EU Immigration Commissioner, and Rui Carlos Pereira, Portugal's Interior Minister, and for the Western Balkan states by the interior ministers of the five Western Balkan countries. The visa facilitation agreements make it possible to maintain the visa handling fee of €35 instead of €60 for all Western Balkan citizens and provide a total exemption from the visa fee for certain categories of applicants. Furthermore, for certain categories of persons, e.g. businessmen, students and journalists, the necessary support documents for a visa application are simplified. For certain categories of frequent travellers it is possible to issue multi-entry visas with long periods of validity. Finally, holders of diplomatic passports are exempted from the visa obligation. Franco Frattini hoped agreements with a “real spirit of European vocation” would take effect by 1 January 2008, a European Parliament decision on this being due by end October. The commissioner stressed that “practical guidelines” from his services should be used to ensure harmonised implementation of the agreements. As soon as the agreements take effect, he said he wanted to begin discussion on a visa-free regime for the citizens of Western Balkan countries, although he did add that this would “depend on security improvements”. Frattini pointed out that, on 5 October, he would open the second common visa application centre within the Slovenian Embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro. The first was opened a short while ago in Moldova. (bc)