Spain’s deputy prime minister and labor minister, Communist Yolanda Diath, today accused Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of pushing reforms “against workers”, claiming Spain’s far-right Vox party was “inspired” by Rome.

Meloni “issued on May 1 a decree to govern at the expense of workers” and “go back to garbage contracts,” said Diath, the No. 3 in Socialist Pedro Sanchez’s government, in response to a question from a Vox party lawmaker.

In Spain, “junk contracts” are those contracts that concern precarious, temporary jobs. Diath proposed reforming the labor code, approved in December 2021, aimed at limiting these types of contracts, which had been targeted by the socialist government.

The Spanish minister was referring to the fact that in Italy, Meloni’s government abolished the “citizen’s income” on May Day, a financial aid benefiting millions of poor people, and replaced it with a more limited “protection check”, which which was labeled a “challenge” by the opposition and unions.

Before taking power in Italy, Meloni had expressed her support for Vox in a video message broadcast at a rally of the Spanish far-right party in Madrid.

“Your government agenda, the hidden agenda, talks about curtailing the right to strike, collective bargaining, privatizing pensions and going back to garbage contracts,” Diath told Vox MP.

It is not the first time that a European minister has criticized the Meloni government. On May 4, the French interior minister accused the Italian prime minister of being “incapable of managing migration”, sparking a crisis in France’s diplomatic relations with Italy.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani responded to Diath by expressing his “regret” for her interference in Italian politics “with unacceptable judgments on the government’s choices”.

“Her party’s electoral difficulties do not justify insults from a European ally and partner. This is not our way of working together,” he added.

Spain is heading for local elections at the end of the month, while parliamentary elections will be held at the end of the year.