Brussels, 17/11/2008 (Agence Europe) -On Monday 17 November, the European Commission proposed opening negotiations with Cape Verde with a view to the conclusion of an agreement aiming to facilitate the issuing of short-stay visas, in parallel to a readmission agreement for illegal immigrants. The Commission put a list of these facilitations to the member states: reduction of visa costs, reducing the time for applications to be processed, issuing multiple-entry visas with a longer period of validity, visa exemptions for certain categories of people (which remain to be defined) and the option to lift the visa obligation for the holders of diplomatic passports. This recommendation of the Commission has still to be approved by the Council of the EU. Agreements on visa facilitation and readmission between the EU and Cape Verde come under the heading of partnerships for mobility, officially launched between the EU and Cape Verde and Moldova on 5 June (EUROPE 9676). (B.C./trans.fl)