(ROME) - News that the European Union could soon open an investigation into tax breaks that the Italian Church enjoys in the property market sparked a fierce political debate in Italy Tuesday.

"It's good news that the European Commission is gathering information on competition violations," Green party senator Natale Ripamonti told ANSA agency.

"Hopefully our pro-European country will dispense with these privileges," he added. The Green party forms part of the radical wing of the current ruling coalition.

But the Christian Democrat UDC party dismissed the Brussels initiative, suggesting it was the product of "radical Freemason" circles.

UDC member and former European affairs minister Rocco Buttiglione called on the Commission not to feed the "suspicions of an anti-Christian European Union".

In 2005, Buttiglione had to withdraw his candidacy for the post of EU justice commissioner after his outspoken views on homosexuality provoked outrage.

The Commission said Tuesday that it had been asking the Italian government for several weeks for information on tax advantages that benefitted the Roman Catholic Church, but had not received sufficient information.

The Commission, the European Union's executive arm and top competition regulator, is responsible for policing state aid in the 27-nation bloc to see whether it threatens fair competition.

If an investigation finds that state aid is illegal, the Commission can require a member state to recover the money from the beneficiary.

But UDC Vice-President Maurizio Ronconi told ANSA: "They are the same ones who prevented the reference to Christian roots in Europe."

The Roman Catholic Church is exempt from paying property taxes for its commercial activities according to an agreement reached by the Holy See and the Italian state in 1929 and revised in 1984.

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