The European Union issued Mauritania's military junta with an ultimatum on Monday, unveil a plan to restore constitutional rule in the west African country within a month or face "appropriate measures".

The deadline was set after an inconclusive meeting in Paris between representatives of the regime which seized power in Nouakchott in August and delegates from concerned EU member states.

"In the absence of new elements within a period of one month, the consultations will end and appropriate measures will be proposed to the decision-making bodies of the European Union," the EU statement said.

Sanctions will likely be drawn up under the Cotonou Accord between the EU and the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, which provides for a ban on all development funds aside from humanitarian aid.

Prime Minister Mohamed Leghdaf Moulaye Ould, who was appointed by the Mauritanian junta after the coup, had hoped to persuade the European Union that the west African regime is taking steps to restore constitutional rule.

In comments carried by state media in Mauritania, the prime minister said the talks had made "good progress".

"The talks are making good progress and have given us an opportunity to outline to our partners what has been happening in our country," Ould told the official AMI News Agency.

Monday's meeting in Paris was held two weeks after an African Union ultimatum calling on the junta to reinstate the country's first elected president, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, passed unheeded.