'Illegal immigration harms all nations': Italian PM Giorgia Meloni

Illegal flows of migrants are damaging all countries across the Mediterranean, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday, as she called on nations to fight together against human traffickers.

Illegal flows of migrants are damaging all countries across the Mediterranean, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday, as she called on nations to fight together against human traffickers.

In contrast with her past hard-line rhetoric, Meloni told an international conference in Rome that her government was open to taking in more people through legal routes as "Europe and Italy needed immigration."

"Mass illegal immigration harms each and every one of us. No one benefits from this, except criminal groups who get rich at the expenses of the most fragile and use their strength even against the governments," she said.