Incoming European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso reaffirmed his confidence in his team of designated commissioners, a Commission spokesman said today.
Italy's Mr Rocco Buttiglione: rejected by a European Parliament panel
"Mr Barroso maintains his confidence in the whole team, which of course includes Mr Buttiglione," Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, a spokeswoman for his transition team, told a news conference.
She said Barroso, a former Portuguese prime minister, would not decide what to do until after he met parliamentary leaders on October 21st and received the assembly's official view on his whole designated team.
The Civil Liberties Committee narrowly rejected Buttiglione as justice and security commissioner on Monday due to his conservative Roman Catholic views on homosexuality and marriage, and also said he was not suited for another Commission role.
Parliament will hold a vote of confidence on the whole incoming EU executive on October 27th and Barroso's team is due to take office on November 1st.
The assembly has no treaty power to veto individual commissioners but only to reject the whole executive.
It has used this "nuclear option" only once in 1999, when it forced the resignation of the Commission led by Jacques Santer of Luxembourg under threat of censure over a sleaze scandal.
Buttiglione outraged left-wing and liberal deputies at a hearing last week by saying he considered homosexuality a sin and that the purpose of marriage was for women to have children and be protected by their husband.
He also said he would not support any legislative proposal that ran counter to his morality.
Many lawmakers said those views made the Italian European affairs minister, a confidant of Pope John Paul, unsuited to be put in charge of legislative proposals to combat discrimination on grounds of gender and sexual orientation.