EU: The incoming EU commission president, Mr Jose Manuel Barroso, has expressed confidence in Mr Rocco Buttiglione, the Italian commissioner-designate who was rejected this week by a European Parliament committee.
The Civil Liberties Committee voted against Mr Buttiglione, who has been nominated as justice and home affairs commissioner, after he described homosexuality as sinful.
Mr Barroso's spokeswoman said that the new Commission President would not decide how to respond to the rejection until he meets parliamentary leaders next week.
"Mr Barroso maintains his confidence in the whole team, which, of course, includes Mr Buttiglione," she said.
Leaders of the parliament's political groups will meet today to discuss the incoming commission.
But there are indications that the Socialists, the Liberals and the Greens are determined to block Mr Buttiglione's appointment to the Justice and Home Affairs portfolio.
The conservative European People's Party is backing Mr Buttiglione but has raised objections to Mr Laszlo Kovacs, a Hungarian Socialist who has been nominated energy commissioner.
The European Parliament cannot reject individual commissioners without rejecting Mr Barroso's entire team, but the opposition to Mr Buttiglione presents the incoming commission president with a difficult dilemma.
He cannot sack the commissioner-designate without offending the Italian government, but he does not wish to start his five-year term with a dispute with the European Parliament.
The outgoing Internal Market Commissioner, Mr Frits Bolkestein, said yesterday that Mr Buttiglione's remarks on homosexuality had placed Mr Barroso in an exceptionally difficult position.
In an interview with The Irish Times and other European newspapers, Mr Bolkestein suggested that the Italian nominee might have to step down.
"I have nothing against Mr Buttiglione, but what he said about homosexuals is his private view. It's a pity he had to come out with it . . . Maybe the Italians will have to come up with someone else," he said.
The Fianna Fáil MEP Mr Brian Crowley, who is joint leader of the Union for a Europe of Nations, said it was now up to Mr Barroso to find a solution to the problem surrounding Mr Buttiglione.
Mr Barroso's spokeswoman stressed yesterday that he retained sole control over the distribution of portfolios within the commission.
One option under discussion in Brussels last night was for Mr Barroso to appoint Mr Buttiglione as energy commissioner and Mr Kovacs as justice and home affairs commissioner.
Such a move would require the two men to undergo fresh hearings before European Parliament committees.