Premier Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday that she was against the idea of developing a European defence alliance to work alongside NATO.

"I want NATO to have a European column, but I think it would be a mistake to have a European defence parallel to NATO, it would be an unnecessary duplication," Meloni said, stressing that NATO is based on the military capabilities of the alliance's members.

"We need to collaborate more at European level and I agree with that".