The European Parliament this week refused to endorse the nomination of the proposed new commissioner for justice, Berlusconi-ite Italian Rocco Buttiglione. Buttiglione believes that homosexuality is a "sin" and that marriage exists to enable women to have children and men to protect them. Unfortunately, this bigot will almost certainly still end up taking the lead in determining the European Commission’s attitude to matters involving the civil liberties of the people whom he regards as aberrant and the women he regards as natural homemakers. Although the parliament's civil liberties committee voted narrowly 26 to reject his nomination, it does not have the power to enforce its will in the case of a single appointee. Instead, it must accept or reject the whole "college", and rejection has already been effectively ruled out by its reaction, generally positive, to the rest of the Commissioners-designate.

The vote provoked a storm of indignation from Il Duce Berlusconi and other right wing extremists. This is partly designed to create a smokescreen to attack Hungary’s appointee, Laszlo Kovacs, on paper easily the most progressive of the new team. The right plan to imply, though probably not to state openly, that one politically-motivated attack justifies another. The difference, of course, is that while civilised human beings may hold views with which the left disagrees, homophobia is not one of them. It is not a political standpoint to describe homosexuality as "a sin", but a hate crime, and should be treated as such.

The political groups in the European Parliament are set to see money paid out to them from EU coffers before the end of this month. Read all about it here