ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Wednesday that the renewal of European economic sanctions against Russia should not be automatic.

European leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday are due to extend until the end of January the sanctions imposed against Russia over its intervention in Ukraine, diplomats and

officials said.

“We will reaffirm the principle that there should be nothing automatic about the renewal of sanctions,” Conte, speaking of Russia, told parliament in a speech outlining Italy’s position on various issues ahead of the Brussels meeting.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; editing by John Stonestreet)