ITALY: About 18 months ago, Rocco Buttiglione dropped by the Foreign Press Bureau in Rome for an informal chat with the resident foreign journalists. Over a cup of coffee, he answered a wide variety of questions about European, world and Italian affairs, reports Paddy Agnew in Rome
As is his wont, Mr Buttiglione did go on a bit. He has never been one for the 25-second soundbite when given the chance to expound. Rather, the exhaustive nature of his replies was too much for the visiting German MEP who had accompanied him. As the afternoon went on, Mr Buttiglione's guest, sitting beside him on a comfortable sofa, fell into a sound sleep.
Mr Buttiglione handled that little moment of awkwardness with both tact and self-deprecating humour, acknowledging that not everyone gets overexcited at the flow of his political thought. Off camera and up close, 56-year-old Rocco Buttiglione is indeed highly personable and engaging. Mention The Irish Times and he immediately tells you that his two daughters are passionate hibernophiles, having spent recent summers in Ireland learning English.
Yet beneath the almost cuddly Buttiglione exterior (for years one of Italy's foremost political cartoonists has depicted him as a friendly, cigar-smoking gorilla), there beats a fundamentalist Catholic heart. Beneath the much -used label of Catholic philosopher, Buttiglione is a tough politician and one who had little hesitation in hitching his political fortunes to the not exactly squeaky clean, not exactly ultra-orthodox Catholic bandwagon of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
That came about 11 years ago in the wake of the collapse of Italy's dominant Christian Democrat party, swept away by corruption scandals. As former members fought for their political survival, some went with the centre-left and some with the centre-right. At the time, Mr Buttiglione explained his choice, saying: "Berlusconi has created a mass-media system that, de facto, is the only alternative to the left. Certainly, it's true that television is the culture of the illiterate. But then Christ was born into a community of illiterates."
The important thing to understand about Rocco Buttiglione is that he is not some form of isolated crank or zealot. Reaction in Italy over the last week to the European Parliament's double rejection of his appointment as Justice Commissioner has made that loud and clear.
Three senior Italian clerics - Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Sodano; the head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace Council, Cardinal Martino; and Cardinal Tonini - as well as SIR, the news agency run by the Italian Bishops' Conference, have all leaped to his defence following his now infamous remarks on homosexuality and the role of women.
It is true that Rocco Buttiglione has friends in high places. He is the expression of a broad Catholic "party" that recently oversaw the enactment of highly restrictive fertility treatment legislation. Mr Buttiglione himself makes no secret of his desire to repeal Italy's abortion laws. His remarks in Strasbourg should come as no surprise. Asked about homosexuality in March 2001, he commented: "Technically, homosexual behaviour is an indication of moral disorder".
Mr Buttiglione also has enemies in Italy. Last week, the Radical Party leader Marcello Pannella sent a letter to outgoing Commission president, Mr Romano Prodi, as well as to his replacement, Mr José Manual Barroso, raising reservations about the Buttiglione candidacy.
In particular, Mr Pannella expressed concern about the figure of Mr Buttiglione's close assistant, Prof Giampiero Catone, "an object of investigation, charges, arrest (and one sentencing) on the part of the Italian magistrature for crimes that include criminal association, embezzlement, false accounting and fraudulent bankruptcy".
As someone with a clean record, these latest accusations about his aide are unlikely to worry him. Indeed, he is likely to face more trouble in the future from his own propensity to talk perhaps rather too much. As his erstwhile partner in arms, former Italian president Francesco Cossiga put it this week: "From now on, Buttiglione should stick to talking only about football."