ROME (AFP) - Rocco Buttiglione, who brought EU affairs to a halt with his views that homosexuality is a sin and that women should stay home looking after children, said that he was stepping down as candidate to become the new European commissioner for justice.
So strongly did Socialist and Liberal members of the European Parliament object to Buttiglione's conservative views that they threatened to veto the entire line-up proposed by the European Commission president-elect, Jose Manuel Barroso.
Rather than face such a defeat and the certainty of a major political crisis even before he took office, Barroso withdrew all his nominees. Buttiglioni, 56, said he was "offering my resignation to help the Barroso commission succeed."
Barroso himself made no comment Saturday about Buttiglioni's move, his spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde saying only that "has taken note of the decision" and was working to find a solution "quickly".
Buttiglioni said he had been ambushed in the parliament, and was the victim of a "superficial and very crude press campaign."
Known to be close to Pope John Paul II, he made no apology for his views and described himself as an "innocent victim."
"I am happy to have been able to bear witness to the values in which I believe and to suffer for them," he added.
In voting for the new commission, the parliament was not allowed to reject individual candidates, and its only recourse was to accept or reject the entire executive as a whole.
Based in Brussels, the commission is the executive arm of the 25-nation European Union.
Socialist members of Italy's parliament, who have had a stormy relationship with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, saw Buttiglioni's nomination as an attempt by the premier to project Italy's right-wing agenda onto the European stage.
As commissioner for justice, Buttiglioni would have been responsible for sensitive issues such as immigration and civil rights.
After meeting with other EU leaders at the signing ceremony of the European constitution in Rome on Friday, Berlusconi hinted that he would replace Buttiglione as his commission nominee in order to avert the parliamentary veto.
He said it was likely that Buttiglioni would remain as a minister in his government.
Barroso said he was working "to present a commission that will deserve the strong support of the European Parliament and the full confidence of the council (of EU governments)."
Speculation in Rome political circles was that Buttiglioni could be replaced by Mario Monti, the seasoned commissioner for competition and anti-trust affairs, who is stepping down from that post.
In Brussels, the two largest groups in the European Parliament called for further changes in Barroso's line-up.
The departure of Buttiglione "did not signify that all difficulties with regard to the appointment of the new commission had been solved," said Hans-Gert Poettering, head of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), the parliament's biggest bloc.
"It will be necessary to achieve further changes to commissioners and their areas of responsibility."
However, Jan Marinus Wiersma, a leader of the Socialist group said: "The withdrawal of Mr. Buttiglione offers the chance of a solution -- but it is not enough for us to say that we are now happy with the situation. They are other commissioners about whom we have strong reservations."
"We will therefore wait for the full proposal from commission president-elect Barroso before we take a decision."
Both the EPP and the Socialists want changes made for Neelie Kroes of the Netherlands who had been named to the sensitive competition portfolio and Latvia's Ingrida Udre, nominated to take on the tax and customs union portfolio.
The EPP additionally opposes Hungarian Laszlo Kovacs in his future role as energy commissioner, while the Socialists oppose Mariann Fischer Boel of Denmark as commissioner-designate for agriculture.
10/30/2004 - 20:49 GMT - AFP