The Italian government has scrapped a planned October 16 meeting with the top management of state-backed defence group Finmeccanica in which they expected to discuss the prospects for alliances and developments in the sector.

Finmeccanica has various merger opportunities following the collapse of a planned tie-up between defence groups BAE Systems and EADS , which need to be evaluated first by the company and then by the government, Italy's defence minister said last week.

"The meeting was supposed to discuss the prospects for the aeronautics and defence sectors and the role of Finmeccanica following the possible merger between EADS and BAE," the government said in a statement on its website on Sunday.

"As the parties concerned have decided not to go ahead with such merger plan, the Prime Minister has decided to cancel the meeting."

Analysts have said that Finmeccanica could expand cooperation or even consider a merger with French aerospace and defence electronics specialist Thales .

(Reporting By Lisa Jucca; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)