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ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s Economy Minister Giovanni Tria could lose his job if he refuses to fund a proposal to introduce a universal income for the poor, the leader of the ruling 5-Star Movement was reported as saying on Tuesday.

“They do not want us to do the universal income... If they keep going like this Tria can go home,” Luigi Di Maio, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, was reported as saying by Italian daily La Stampa.

The introduction of a universal income for the poor is a flagship campaign promise of the 5-Star Movement. Tria is an academic who is not a member either of 5-Star, or its coalition partner, the League party.

Italy’s top ministers met on Monday to discuss the 2019 budget, with friction building inside the coalition over the package and financial markets on edge about the government’s big-spending plans.