BRUSSELS, Oct 11 (AFP) - A European Parliament committee narrowly rejected Monday the nomination of the proposed new commissioner for justice because of controversial remarks about homosexuals.
It was not clear whether the vote would have any practical consequences.
The parliament's cvil liberties committee voted by 27 to 26 to reject the nomination of Italy's Rocco Buttiglione as Justice, Security and Liberty commissioner in the new 25-member college that takes office at the end of this month.
Liberals and leftwingers outvoted conservatives.
But it also turned down by 28 votes to 25 a leftwing motion calling for Buttiglione to be given a different portfolio.
As a result the committee's chairman, France's Jean-Louis Bourlanges, said he would recommend against the appointment of Buttiglione to any post.
But a separate parliamentary committee, responsible for legal affairs, gave him its backing.
During confirmation hearings Buttiglione, a devout Roman Catholic, outraged some members of the parliament with his views on homosexuality, which he called "a sin", and women, whose role, he suggested, was to have children and be protected by their husbands.
The presidents of the different political groups in the parliament will have to decide later this week what position to adopt.
If the left persists in rejecting Buttiglione, conservatives could retaliate by targetting the proposed Energy Commissioner, Hungary's Laszlo Kovacs, seen as a leftwinger.
In any case the new European Commission president, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso of Portugal, is not bound by the parliament's opinion.
It can reject the entire commission when it comes to vote later this month, but not individual commissioners.