The Italian government and Lufthansa reached a deal on the sale of a stake in flag carrier ITA Airways to the German airline, Rome announced Monday evening, hours before a midnight deadline to present the agreement to European regulators.

Germany's Lufthansa Group said it had submitted a package of remedies to the European Commission needed to secure EU antitrust approval to take a minority stake in Italy's ITA Airways, bringing it a step closer to closing the deal.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG is on track to complete its takeover of ITA Airways after ironing out differences with the Italian government over the purchase of the unprofitable carrier.

The path for Lufthansa to take over the state-owned Italian airline ITA is clear, as the required documents for the buyout were submitted on time to the EU competition authority, Italy's finance ministry said on Monday.

The Italian government has reached a deal with Germany's Lufthansa for the German airline group to acquire a minority stake in Italy’s ITA Airways, a

Rome and Lufthansa had been locked into over a year of tough negotiations on the price and terms of the deal. Italy has reached a deal with German flag carrier Lufthansa on the sale of a stake in ITA Airways,