ROME, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Italy wants a stricter threshold for the suspension of imports under the planned Mercosur trade agreement, its agriculture minister said in an interview published on Thursday, ahead of an EU vote on the treaty where Rome's stance could prove decisive.

Francesco Lollobrigida told financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore that Rome was pushing to lower the point at which safeguard clauses would be triggered, reducing it to 5% from the 8% currently proposed.

Under the mechanism, the agreement would be suspended if imports from Latin America rose above that threshold or if European agricultural prices fell by more than the same amount.

"We want this 8% threshold to be lowered to 5%. And we believe there are the conditions to achieve this result," Lollobrigida was quoted as saying.

He also said Italy's diplomats were carrying out final technical and political checks after receiving initial guarantees on food‑safety reciprocity, an issue Rome has long raised. Italy wants to ensure that farm products imported into the EU meet the same standards required of EU producers.

"We're down to the last mile," he said, adding that EU countries will review progress at a meeting of member‑state representatives (Coreper) on Friday.

(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Aidan Lewis)