Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday it was too early to seal the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.

“Signing the agreement in the coming days, as it has been hypothesized, is still premature,” Meloni told the Italian parliament. She was speaking ahead of an EU summit.

Before leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday, a decisive round of deliberations will be held on a package of additional farm safeguards tied to the Mercosur deal. If a compromise can be reached, that would open the way to a final decision by EU countries on Friday on approving the trade deal with the South American bloc.

With France already calling for a delay, Italy’s fence-sitting could put out of reach the qualified majority needed to approve the deal — of 15 countries representing 65 percent of the EU population. That, in turn, would at the last minute thwart Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s plan to fly to Brazil on Saturday to sign the deal.

“For us it is necessary to wait that the package of extra measures to protect the farm sector is perfected,” Meloni said, adding that the new guarantees will need to be discussed with farmers too.

“This doesn’t mean that Italy wants to block or oppose the agreement globally. But, as we always said, we want to approve it only when adequate reciprocity guarantees for our agricultural sector will be added. And I am very confident that with the beginning of the new year, all these conditions can be fulfilled.”

Meloni said the European Commission has already proposed concessions such as as the stronger safeguards and a farmer compensation fund. But, echoing the position of France, she said those measures need to be finalized before Italy can back the deal.