The EU has said Belarus, fresh from elections widely denounced as fraudulent, must improve its human rights record and move towards democracy if it wants better ties with the West.
The EU statement came a day after Belarus's government appealed to the West to end its policy of isolating the authoritarian former Soviet state and to find ways of working with the re-elected President, Alexander Lukashenko.
"The European Union would point out that the development of its relations with Belarus is essentially dependent on respect for human rights and the progress of democracy in that country," the EU said in a statement issued by the current president, Belgium.
The EU, the statement added, regretted that the Belarus authorities have not seized the opportunity afforded by these presidential elections to engage their country fully on the path of democracy.
Mr Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in last Sunday's election, but his domestic opponents and international observers said he won by vote-rigging and systematic intimidation.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitored the election, said the West should focus now on encouraging a grassroots civil rights and opposition movement, a theme taken up in the EU statement.
"The European Union will continue to support the transition to democracy and will hold consultations on the subject with all the political forces of Belarus which are prepared to work in the same direction," it said.
Belarus is the only country in central and eastern Europe which is neither a candidate for eventual membership of the 15-nation EU, nor trying to develop much closer economic and political ties with the Union.
