Italy should reconsider its rejection of nuclear energy as it ‌seeks greater energy security and economic stability, the head of the International Energy Agency said in an interview published on Friday.

Italy has no operating nuclear reactors and relies heavily on energy imports, including electricity generated by ‌nuclear power in neighboring countries such as France.

Nuclear-fired power ​plants are prohibited in Italy following referendums in 1987 and 2011 but the government has been drafting rules ⁠to lift the ban through the use of new nuclear-power technologies.

Asked ​whether the debate in Italy over a possible return to nuclear ⁠power was the right choice, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told Italian daily La Stampa: "I know that Italy rejected nuclear power in two referendums. But already ‌two years ago, in Rome, I said that, if ​I were (Italy's) government, ‌I would reconsider that choice and look more closely at nuclear energy."

Birol said Italy ‌did not have abundant energy resources and that although it was doing very well on renewables it also needed "stable and continuous production."

"For ⁠economic prosperity, energy security and ‌national sovereignty, Rome should ⁠evaluate nuclear power carefully, both in its traditional form and with new modular ⁠reactors," he ⁠said.

The Italian government has drafted a new legal framework for nuclear energy which is ‌expected to be approved by parliament in the coming months, but the subject is still controversial for the majority of the population.

Since the start ‌of ​the Iran war, policymakers ‌around the globe have been increasingly looking at ways to reduce long-term dependence on oil and gas imports, including by ​expanding nuclear energy.

Anti-nuclear campaigners cite safety concerns, high upfront capital construction costs and long construction times.