Was postponed on Wednesday in a bid to avoid direct defeat from the members of the European Parliament (EP), as the lawmakers were threatening to vote down the entire designated EU executive team. The incoming Commission?s mandate was supposed to begin on 1 November, but the decision has now been postponed for several weeks while Barroso must find a compromise or make changes in his team. MEPs were especially incensed over the nomination for the justice portfolio of Italian Rocco Buttiglione, whose controversial comments two weeks ago on gays, single mothers, and marriage disgusted Socialist and Liberal parliamentarians. ?I have come to the conclusion that if a vote is taken today, the outcome will not be positive for European institutions or for the European project. In these circumstances, I have decided not to submit a new Commission for your approval today,? Barroso announced at the EP session in Strasbourg, France, adding that he needed more time to look at the issue and to consult further with EU member states and MEPs to secure strong support for the new Commission. The standoff between Barroso?s team and EP deputies began two weeks ago when Buttiglione, the designated commissioner for justice and home affairs, called homosexuality a sin and said that single mothers were “not very good” people. Such statements were unacceptable to many legislators who had already voted against his nomination in a committee in the European Parliament. While the centre-right EP parties have fully supported Buttiglione, the Socialists and Liberals indicated from the start that they would vote against the EC today unless Barroso removed the Italian from his list of nominees, which he refused to do. According to several Italian newspapers, the Italian government has also tried to intervene, w?th Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi asking Buttiglione to step aside. Buttiglione refused Berlusconi?s suggestion, according to Italian media sources. Barroso, who over a period of two weeks rejected calls from MEPs for immediate changes in the commission, still has time time to reshuffle his team or seek a replacement for Buttiglione. Despite the crisis, however, the institutional continuity of the EC has been assured. Immediately after Barroso?s announcement that he would not seek a vote of the MEPs for his commission team today, the President of the Council of the European Union, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Pieter Balkenende, contacted the outgoing president of the Commission, Romano Prodi, and asked him officially to remain in office until the new Commission is voted in by the EP. Prodi agreed to continue in office for the time being to ensure institutional continuity. (By Ekrem Krasniqi in Brussels)
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