Belarus is ready to take any steps to normalize its relations with the European Union (EU), President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday. "We are sincerely interested in promoting good-neighborly relations with the European Union for geographical, historical and cultural reasons," Lukashenko said at a meeting with several European envoys. "We cannot do without each other. We have to live side-by-side, like neighbors. Belarus has done its best to achieve the rapprochement," he said. Belarus-EU ties have soured as the EU accused the Belarusian authorities of persecuting the political opposition and denying citizens' basic rights and freedoms.