Conte spokesman under fire

(ANSA) - Rome, September 24 - Premier Giuseppe Conte's spokesman is under fire after the release of an audio recording of a conversation with two journalists in which he talked about the possibility of purging the economy ministry of officials who have allegedly been hampering the government's plan to introduce a 'citizenship wage' basic income.
    Opposition parties have called on the spokesman, journalist Rocco Casalino, to be sacked but Conte and the 5-Star Movement both defended him and criticised the release of the audio.
    Casalino is a former participant in the Italian version of reality show Big Brother.
    Former premier and ex-leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), Matteo Renzi, said the case showed "we are faced with cudgels via the Web".
    European Parliament President Antonio Tajani of Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party said "they had purges in Stalin's time".
    The Italian journalists' guild's (ODG) Lombardy branch have opened a probe into the case. This could lead them to refer the case to the territorial discipline council.