Prosecutors on Sicily probing sea rescue groups and charities for alleged migrant smuggling were also wiretapping reporters to find their their sources, and tracked journalists movements on their phones, an Italian newspaper said.

Drawing immediate return fire, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Italians, whose country is caught in a vortex of instability and political volatility, need to be less corrupt, work harder and stop blaming the European Union for problems in the country’s poorer southern region.