Political correctness gone mad

The decision by the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee to reject the nomination of Rocco Buttiglione as European Commissioner for Justice and Security over his comments on homosexuality and marriage is very unfortunate. At best it looks like a case of political correctness gone mad, at worst an anti-Catholic (and anti-Berlusconi) bias among certain left-wing circles in the European Parliament.

Mr Buttiglione, the former Italian Minister for Europe, is a devout Catholic and a close friend of the Pope. During his questioning by the parliamentary committee he was asked whether he thought homosexuality was a sin. His reply was that he might think that homosexuality was a sin but this would have absolutely no bearing on his policies as a Commissioner, because in any case he certainly did not consider it to be a crime.

One may or may not agree with Mr Buttiglione's reply - perhaps he could have been more diplomatic - but this is certainly no reason to reject his nomination. Mr Buttiglione is entitled to his Catholic views, he is entitled to believe in a Europe of values and he is entitled to be loyal to his conscience.

Candidates should be rejected as Commissioners if they are incompetent, bigoted or hold extremist or anti-democratic views. This is certainly not the case with Mr Buttiglione who is balanced, moderate, level-headed and very intelligent. Why should he be penalised because he holds traditional Catholic views and has the courage to admit this?

It could well be that the vote against Mr Buttiglione is a way of getting back at Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who is not particularly popular with MEPs. The leader of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament is none other than Martin Shultz, the German MEP who was insulted and compared to a concentration camp guard by Mr Berlusconi when the Italian leader addressed the European Parliament at the beginning of his country's EU Presidency last year.

So, to a certain extent Mr Berlusconi is to blame for the poor relationship between his government and Europe's legislative bloc, but hitting out at Mr Buttiglione is still totally unacceptable. In any case, Mr Buttiglione, as the leader of Italy's Christian Democrats, differs somewhat in his political outlook from Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia and I am sure would have been shocked at his Prime Minister's attack on Mr Shultz.

Although the European Parliament cannot prevent any one particular Commissioner-designate from taking office - it has to veto the entire team - the rejection of Mr Buttiglione is a serious blow to Commission President-designate José Manuel Barroso who has repeatedly said that he has full confidence in his whole team of Commissioners.

Mr Barroso said that his Commission will be both tolerant and liberal on social issues, and that tolerance should be shown to Mr Buttiglione. "The same tolerance we should apply to different views," he added.

The Socialist Group, however, has already said that it is willing to reject the entire Commission if Mr Barroso insists on keeping Mr Buttiglione. Mr Barroso can decide to call Parliament's bluff - after all, the Socialists alone cannot veto the Commission, as they do not command a parliamentary majority and would need the support of other political groups to reject the entire team. Such a majority is unlikely, but possible. If it does come to this, then it will be a sad day for Europe, a day when political correctness exceeded all limits.

The Left's handling of this affair has already brought a reprisal from the centre-right which has refused to endorse - but not reject - the nomination of the Hungarian Commissioner-Designate for Energy, Laszlo Kovacs, a Socialist, on the grounds that he is incompetent. Such a tit-for-tat reprisal does not augur well for the future of the European Parliament.

The Italian government has also been angered by Mr Buttiglione's rejection and has insisted that it will not nominate another Commissioner to replace him. However, it has described the controversy as a normal part of the democratic process.

"It's the price of democracy. It's a political body. There is now a very strong Left, opposing Prime Minister Berlusconi, the Italian centre-right government and Mr Buttiglione. That is normal. We will continue to respect the European Parliament because it's an important institution of European democracy," Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.

Everything now depends on how a meeting goes between Mr Barroso and Parliament's leaders on Thursday. Parliament has the right to reject any Commissioner it feels is not up to the job but I feel that it has gone too far with Mr Buttiglione. Europe is secular but people should not be discriminated against because of their religious beliefs. It will be a sad day for Europe if some compromise is not reached.