ITALY: The rejection of EU Commissioner-designate Mr Rocco Buttiglione prompted bitter debate in Italy yesterday with government, opposition and senior Catholic Church figures expressing widely contrasting reactions to the double vote against Mr Buttiglione.
While newspaper leaders spoke of a "slap in the face" for Italy, the opposition seized on the vote to highlight the country's lack of credibility in Europe.
In contrast, however, both government and church figures spoke of a concerted attack not so much on the Berlusconi government as on Catholic values and morals.
Inevitably, Prime Minister Mr Silvio Berlusconi angrily rejected the vote, calling it a reflection of "the crude propagandist nature of the personal arguments put forward" by the Italian left and concluding that the vote represented a "dreadful start" for the new session of the European Parliament.
Cardinal Ersilio Tonini, perhaps reflecting the Vatican's deep concern about the lack of a reference to Europe's Christian heritage in the proposed EU constitution, was even more outspoken, calling the vote "pure ostracism".
Cardinal Tonini told Rome daily La Repubblica: "My suspicion is that this (vote) represents a rejection of the Christian position, plain and simple. This is a vote that bodes ill. I believe that in a democracy, an exchange of ideas should always be possible."
Veteran government minister Mr Mirko Tremaglia, of the ex-Fascist Alleanza Nazionale, was vitriolic, telling reporters: "Unfortunately, Buttiglione has lost out in this - Poor Old Europe, gays are in the majority."
That controversial comment in turn prompted the Green Party to call for the resignation of Mr Tremaglia, who holds the portfolio for Relations with Italians Abroad.
Inevitably, too, the Italian gay rights group, Arcigay, hailed the vote, with president Sergio Lo Giudice saying that it showed that "the Vatican's writ ends at the Alps".
As for Rocco Buttiglione, the man at the centre of the storm, he was unrepentant yesterday about the original remarks which prompted the double veto, telling Vatican Radio that he had been "criminalised" for his religious beliefs.
Earlier he had told Rome daily Il Messaggero: "I will not prostitute my conscience. I'm not going to sell out for an EU commissioner's job. The vote is the fruit of religious discrimination."