A row over alleged Vatican interference in Italian affairs has erupted after a demand by the European Commission for Italy to explain tax breaks for the Catholic Church on income from property. A spokesman for Neelie Kroes, the Competition Commissioner, said Brussels had received complaints that the tax concessions amounted to illegal state aid. He said that the Commission was merely seeking information at this stage. That was enough, however, to unleash a political storm in Italy over the role and status of the Church, with the Left accusing it of using its “privileged position” to impose a Catholic agenda on Italians with the connivance of the Right. The Right accused the Left – and the Commission – of “anticlericalism”. The Commission insisted yesterday that it had acted “not out of disrespect for religion but out of respect for EU law”.
Appunti di un anonimo italiano
31/8/2007
