Italy PM spokesman warns Treasury officials to find welfare funds or face sack

Italy's prime ministerial spokesman has warned that the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement will sack Treasury officials in a "mega-vendetta" if they fail to find the resources needed for welfare spending. Spokesman Rocco Casalino's comments, made in a leaked audio with an unidentified journalist, come as Italy's populist government draws up its first budget amid rising tension over funding.
"If in the end they tell us 'ah we couldn't find the money' then we'll devote the whole of 2019 to getting rid of all these pieces of shit at the (Treasury)," Casalino said in the recording, in which he asks to be quoted as a parliamentary source.
"A mega-vendetta is ready," he said.
On Friday, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte met senior ministers to try to resolve the impasse over the budget between the ruling parties and Economy Minister Giovanni Tria, an academic who does not belong to either of the ruling parties and is resisting their plans to boost spending.
The fiscal plan is expected to include a series of expenditure commitments including a minimum income for the poor, which 5-Star is championing.