"The European Commission enquiring with the member states about issues that are partly or totally under the jurisdiction of the EU is a recurring practice. This is what has been happening over the last few months between Brussels and Rome about the tax treatment granted by the Italian State to non-profit agencies and religious communities, including the Catholic Church". This has been repeated in Brussels by Gianni Borsa, an expert in European policies and a correspondent for SirEuropa. "The first enquiry specifies Borra has already received a written reply from Prodi’s Government, which might be followed by a second enquiry. Speaking in the conditional is a must, because Jonathan Todd, spokesman of the Anti-Trust Commissioner Neelie Kroes, does not explain whether a new investigation will be opened, while it is sure that for the time being Barroso’s team has opened no official procedure. After all, it is Kroes’ official responsibility to check that the member states do not breach the provision of the EU Treaty (art. 87) which bans state assistance to private companies which might violate the principle of free competition. On the other hand, the EU policies, concludes Borsa, "do not refuse to make exceptions to such principle, as they recognise the value of some specific social, charitable, cultural, cooperative activities that are not strictly economic".
