EU countries today held back from pledging troops to help safeguard June elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Officials have called for more details on the proposed mission, which Ireland has indicated it will consider participating in.
The United Nations asked the EU in January to send a rapid reaction force of 800 soldiers to help beef up security for the elections, saying the 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission there was overstretched.
However, EU nations have been wary of committing troops to the risky mission, and defence ministers of the 25-nation bloc asked EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to go to Kinshasa to clarify what would be needed.
A diplomat at the defence ministers' meeting in Innsbruck, Austria, said Mr Solana would discuss with President Joseph Kabila how long the troops would be required, where they would be deployed, their relationship with UN troops and how many could be put on standby outside the country.
France and Germany have both indicated they could commit substantial troop numbers but are looking for other nations to come forward. Along with Ireland, Sweden, Spain and Portugal have been cited as possible contributors.
The question of who would lead the force was also not resolved today. Mr Solana and others had said they expected Germany to take on that role, but Berlin has been reluctant to commit until it has assurances that other nations would take part.
EU officials had played down the chances of progress at the Innsbruck talks, noting that the June 18th date for the Congo vote - its first free elections since independence from Belgium in 1961 - meant the EU had a few more weeks to agree the mission.