EU Justice and Home Affairs

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 2:09 pm on 14 October 2004.

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Photo of David Heath David Heath Shadow Spokesperson (Home Affairs) 2:09, 14 October 2004

I am happy to do so. I was defending the honour of another Member of the House, whom I felt had been traduced.

Mr. Djanogly used his rather lamentable contribution as a proxy for a debate on the European constitution. We know, or at least we think we know, that we will have a referendum on the constitution—we had certainly better have a referendum on it—so there will be an opportunity to debate those issues then; this is not that opportunity.

I am surprised that there has been no mention of the debate that is convulsing a lot of the European Parliament and European Commission: the identity of the person who will put these proposals into effect. The name of Rocco Buttiglione has not been mentioned, yet we have the extraordinary situation of the civil liberties committee rejecting his nomination as European Commissioner—on sound grounds, I think, given the views that he has expressed and the actions he has taken. I hope that the debate on his confirmation, or otherwise, will be on the right terms—that it will be not on what he believes but on the way in which he intends to pursue the proposals that are before the Commission. I also hope that Mr. Barroso will take careful note of what parliamentarians are saying about Mr. Buttiglione's suitability for that role. He may be a perfectly good commissioner in another role, but he is not the right man to take forward a programme that is concerned with the liberties of individuals and the fight against discrimination.

I hope that not a single Member of the House does not believe that co-operation between member states is essential to fight organised crime, terrorism and domestic crime, drug smuggling and the like.

Annotations

pete marrable
Posted on 24 Oct 2004 10:43 pm (Report this annotation)

So you can discriminate against some one because they are a Christian ?
The objection to Mr. Buttiglione's suitability is purly religious and is therefore illegal.
Shame on you all.