Premier Giorgia Meloni said early on Friday that more time is needed to make sure European farmers have safeguards to protect their livelihoods before the trade deal between the European Union and South American bloc Mercosur can be signed.
The agreement has been expected to be sealed this week but Meloni said Wednesday that Italy would not sign up until safeguards are in place.
France has expressed the same position and so the signing of the agreement is set to be postponed until January.
"We are working to postpone the Mercosur summit, which gives us some more weeks to try to provide the answers our farmers are demanding, (to provide) the safeguards that are necessary for our products, and thus allow us to approve the agreement when, as we have said, we have all the guarantees," Meloni told reporters at the EU summit in Brussels.
