The incoming President of the European Commission, Mr José Manuel Barroso, has rejected MEPs' demands to move his Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner-designate, triggering a confrontation that could see his entire Commission rejected by the European Parliament next week.
Mr Barroso appealed to the Parliament's political leaders yesterday to back the Commission despite his decision to leave Mr Rocco Buttiglione, an Italian conservative, in charge of the justice portfolio. Mr Barroso sought to address MEPs' concerns about Mr Buttiglione's views on homosexuality and marriage by promising to chair a new Commission working group to fight discrimination and protect human rights.
"It is possible to have 25 different opinions but there is only one Commission policy. The new Commission will be absolutely opposed to any kind of discrimination based on sexual orientation, based on gender or based on religious belief," he said.
Mr Buttiglione apologised in a letter to Mr Barroso for his remarks before a committee of MEPs when he described homosexuality as sinful and said the purpose of marriage was for women to have children under male protection.
"I did not intend in any way to offend the feelings of anybody and in particular of women and homosexuals. Words so emotionally charged as sin should perhaps not be introduced in the political debate." He said that, if a conflict should arise between his conscience and his duties as a commissioner, he would ask the Commission President to hand responsibility for such a decision to another commissioner.
The moves were not enough to persuade Mr Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist group, the Parliament's second largest, to drop his opposition to a Commission that put Mr Buttiglione in charge of Justice and Home Affairs. "The Socialist group cannot vote in favour of this Commission. We do not have confidence in it," he said.
The Parliament's largest group, the European People's Party (EPP), which includes Fine Gael, has promised to vote in favour of the Commission. Fianna Fáil MEP Mr Brian Crowley, who is joint leader of the much smaller Union for a Europe of Nations (UEN), said his group would support Mr Barroso's team.
"We'll be giving him full backing. I think he made the necessary moves to address Parliament's concerns," Mr Crowley said.
Two other groups, the Greens and the far-left GUE, which includes Sinn Féin's two MEPs, are planning to vote against the Commission. Mr Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a Green leader, last night called on Mr Barroso to reconsider his appointment of Mr Buttiglione.
"Mr Barroso does not, to date, have a sufficient majority in the Parliament, with only the EPP and UEN groups supporting him. The Greens are making a final appeal for Barroso to make a new proposal if he does not want his Commission to be completely weakened. Such a Commission would hardly survive for the next five years," he said.
The Parliament's third largest group, the Liberals, was undecided last night on how it would vote. Most Liberals believe that Mr Buttiglione is an unsuitable choice but they are reluctant to reject Mr Barroso's team, which includes seven Liberal commissioners.
Mr Barroso said yesterday that, with eight women commissioners, his team had the best gender balance of any Commission in the EU's history. He said the current Justice Commissioner, Mr António Vitorino, who is a Portuguese socialist, told him that Mr Buttiglione was the commissioner best qualified to succeed him.
As centre-right MEPs warned of an "institutional crisis" in the EU if the Parliament rejects the Commission next week, Mr Schulz insisted that the dispute reflected the development of a political culture within the Union.
"If an executive is seeking a majority in parliament, it is just as normal for it to be rejected as it is for it to be accepted. You can't talk about an institutional crisis," he said.