The Buttiglione affair

On March 11, The Times carried an article penned by rejected EU Commissioner-designate Rocco Buttiglione, in which he expressed his preoccupation over what he considers to be an attack on the religious freedoms of Europeans. He complained that the facts behind his case were twisted by the media and maintained that he is not guilty of any homophobic remarks.

Prof. Buttiglione's rejection had nothing to do with his religious beliefs but with his bigotry. He is notorious in Italian domestic politics for his inflammatory remarks about gays and lesbians and about the role of women in society. Such comments were not made during his hearing at the European Parliament but on numerous occasions throughout his political career. This notoriety of his finally reached the European Parliament and compelled it to make an unprecedented move: that of threatening to use its veto to block the appointment of the whole Commission in order to stop him from taking on the job.

One laughs when Prof. Buttiglione claims he was rejected because of some "allegedly" homophobic remarks he made. Allow us to remind Prof. Buttiglione of one very simple but important political act attributable to him: As a member of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2004 he submitted an amendment to the Convention that drew up the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights proposing that sexual orientation be removed from the list of grounds of discrimination in Article 21 of the charter, dealing with non-discrimination. Can Prof. Buttiglione explain how he can reconcile this fact with his assertion that he has "consistently and clearly supported the principle of non-discrimination"?

One thing is certain: The European Parliament's stance was no attempt at violating anybody's right to religious freedom or freedom of expression. On the contrary, the European Parliament's was a successful attempt at stopping Prof. Buttiglione from occupying a political post that would have enabled him to implement his bigotry in the performance of his duties. As both Prof. Buttiglione and his supporters know very well, there have always been - and will always be - Catholics occupying the highest positions in European politics.

However, an individual's appointment at such high-ranking posts is dependant on that person's ability to respect everyone's fundamental human rights; something which through his actions (not just his words) Prof. Buttiglione has clearly showed he was incapable of doing.

That was why he was deemed incompetent of occupying the post of Commissioner for Freedom, Security and Justice. For, as he himself said, competence was all that mattered in the appointment. With respect to a political appointment, one is competent if s/he is able to implement policy as determined by the people, in this case represented by the European Parliament, and if they enjoy the confidence of the same in doing that. The EP clearly did not have confidence in Prof. Buttiglione.

We reiterate our firm belief that everyone has a right to freely hold the religious beliefs of one's choice. However, no one should be allowed to use those religious beliefs as a basis for translating one's personal prejudices into public policy. Prejudice is always wrong, whether it is shared by a few eccentrics or whether it is propagated by many more under the pretext of their religious beliefs.