Brussels, 18/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - EU and Georgia hope to make rapid headway in talks on an association agreement (initiated in July this year) and bring the country's body of law into line with the acquis communautaire, Herman Van Rompuy said after a discussion with the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, in Brussels on Thursday 18 November. “We agreed on the need to further advance the necessary reforms that would bring Georgian legislation into line with the EU in key areas”, the president of the European Council said. Georgia's head of state asserted that his country had “no alternative”to Europe. Georgia, he went on, is a “European country looking to go back to its native house”. Van Rompuy and Saakashvili agreed that both the visa facilitation and readmission agreements should enter into force soon. The prospect of strengthening ties with the EU must be a “stimulus” for Georgia, inciting it to continue with democratic reform, Van Rompuy said. Saakashvili also called on the EU to ensure that Russia finally complies with the ceasefire agreement concluded in summer 2008 “which is flouted continuously”. (H.B./transl.jl)