Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he did not believe European Union leaders will reach a final solution over how to help the bloc's economies recover from the coronavirus crisis when they meet by video-conference on Thursday.
Addressing the Italian Senate, Mr Conte said the future of the EU depended on it finding sufficient common resources to tackle the crisis, and welcomed recent proposals from France and Spain.
"I don't believe the upcoming meeting of the 27 leaders will find a definitive solution but I will do everything ... to ensure it expresses a clear political path in the only reasonable direction," Mr Conte said.
He added that Italy would not veto the use of the euro zone bailout fund because other countries, including Spain, had said they were interested in using it, but he reiterated that he did not see it as a useful tool for Italy.
Mr Conte is also set to reveal the steps the country will take to loosen restrictions, reopen the economy and emerge from the coronavirus crisis by this weekend.
Italy, which has reported more coronavirus deaths than any other European country, has been under national quarantine since 9 March, with some regions imposing lockdowns even earlier.
The quarantine period, which has been extended twice, is due to expire on 3 May.
Mr Conte is caught between trying to avoid a fresh spike in infections of the virus, which has killed more than 24,000 people in Italy, and avoiding additional damage to the economy.
"I would like to be able to say, let's open everything. Right away," Mr Conte wrote on Facebook.
"But such a decision would be irresponsible. It would make the contagion curve rise uncontrollably and would jeopardise all the efforts that we've made until now."
A plan to gradually reopen the country, the so-called 'Phase 2', would be laid out "before the end of this week", he said.
"We have to reopen on the basis of policy that takes into consideration all the details and cuts across all the data. A serious policy, scientific," Mr Conte wrote.
"A reasonable expectation is that we will apply it from 4 May."
In laying out the challenges ahead, Mr Conte cited how, in allowing businesses to reopen, officials needed to consider how workers would get to and from work, in order to avoid congestion which could open the door to new cases of infection
The Italian leader had earlier this month already charged a task force made up of economists, lawyers, sociologists and other experts with studying the post-lockdown measures needed to restart the economy while protecting worker health.
The task force is headed by former Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao.
Mr Conte said the plan would be national but would take into account regional differences.
Some in Italy's poorer south, for example, have cited as unfair the fact that they are subject to the same lockdown conditions as the north, the hub of the contagion, despite fewer coronavirus cases and lower population density in many areas.
The Mediterranean country reported its first drop Monday in the number of people currently suffering from the virus since recording its first infection in February.
Those receiving intensive care treatment also fell to the lowest level in a month in the first direct health benefits of an economically devastating lockdown.
But Italy's official death toll from the virus still rose to 24,114, which is second only to the United States.
