Rocco Buttiglione - an unguided missile

Written by Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP and published in Letter to the Guardian, 26th October 2004 on Tue 26th Oct 2004

Dear Sir, It is a serious matter to vote down the whole incoming European Commission, but it also a seriously mistake of the EU Member States and President-designate Barroso to propose in Rocco Buttiglione a candidate for one of the most important jobs in the EU today - Commissioner for security, liberty and cross-border justice - who is so entirely unfitted to that role.

If, as I hope, a majority of directly-elected MEPs joins me in voting down the whole Commission on Wednesday, we shall be doing our job of holding the executive to account and helping remedy the EU's much-deplored 'democratic deficit' 2 days before signature of the new constitution.

It is not just, though this is bad enough, that Mr Buttiglione has reactionary prejudices against gay people and women and that he tried to get sexual orientation removed as a ground of discrimination in the constitution. He has also proved himself, as a member of the Berlusconi government, complicit in widespread non-respect for the rule of law. On asylum, the Italian government is breaching the UN Refugee Convention by deporting migrants without allowing a determination of whether they qualify as refugees. It held up agreement on the European Arrest Warrant which cuts red tape in getting criminal and terrorist suspects before the courts, and now Italy is only country which has not implemented it. And it has passed laws to pervert the Italian justice system and give Berlusconi and others immunity from fraud and corruption charges.

Barroso last week proposed an absurdly complicated arrangement whereby he and other Commissioners would carry out the fundamental rights part of Buttiglione's duties. But the portfolio is indivisible, especially as counter-terrorism measures threaten civil liberties.

Since Barrroso is therefore conceding that this man is incapable of carrying out the full job, the more logical course is to shift him to a different subject area. Mind you, Rocco B is such an unguided missile with his repeated gaffes, that his credibility to be a Commissioner at all is rapidly eroding.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Ludford MEP,

Liberal Democrat European justice spokeswoman