The European Union could send peacekeepers to the breakaway region of South Ossetia to help enforce a ceasefire between Russia and Georgia.
EU foreign ministers announced support for the plan to send peacekeepers after an emergency meeting in Brussels today.
The Irish development minister, Peter Power, said: "The EU is ready to engage, including on the ground, to support the efforts of the United Nations and the OSCE (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development)."
He added that details of the EU peacekeeping plan would be discussed at a meeting next month.
Georgia's foreign minister, Eka Tkeshelashvili, made an appeal for the EU to send peacekeepers, amid reports that Russia was violating the ceasefire with renewed attacks on Gori.
"European monitors have to be on the ground. Europe has to get engaged physically on the ground and Europe has to stop that from happening. We are part of Europe and part of Europe is being aggressed now," Tkeshelashvili said as she arrived in Brussels.
It was also reported that OSCE, the European security and rights organisation, will increase the number of monitors in South Ossetia from 200 to 300 to help supervise the French-brokered ceasefire.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister, told Reuters that the chairman of OSCE had announced to the emergency meeting that he had decided to increase the number of monitors in South Ossetia.
Earlier today, the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, appealed to his EU partners for support to help stabilise the peacekeeping agreement.
"It's a good idea. The presence of controllers … monitors, European facilitators, yes, yes and yes, that's how Europe should do it on the ground," he said.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, which is currently chair of the EU, travelled to the region yesterday to broker a ceasefire deal with Russia.
Georgia's president, Mikhail Saakashvili, signalled his partial assent to the terms, announcing with Sarkozy that he accepted the ceasefire. But Saakashvili raised questions about a continuing Russian military presence in Georgia and the prospects for any durable settlement looked uncertain.
