(ANSA) - Rome, April 12 - Anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) bigwig Luigi Di Maio was slammed Wednesday for saying Romania was exporting 40% of its criminals to Italy while Italy was exporting jobs to Romania.

Gianni Pittella, the European Parliament caucus leader for the Socialists and Democrats, accused Di Maio, the Lower House deputy Speaker of saying "idiotic" things.

Di Maio responded by saying his assertion was supported by Romanian authorities.

"There's an inarguable fact, that 40% of those sought on international warrants issued by Bucharest are in Italy," Di Maio said.

"I'm not saying that, then Romanian justice minister Catalin Predoiu said it in 2009 and the data were confirmed the other day by Messina prosecutor Sebastiano Ardita.

The chair of the Romanians in Italy association, Eugen Tertelac, described Di Maio's statements as "populist claims" for "electoral ends" which "could ruin relations between our two countries".

