Brussels, 09/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - As anticipated, the new hearings required after the remodelling of Team Barroso will take place next Monday and Tuesday in Strasbourg, to be followed by a plenary debate on Wednesday and the vote of appointment on Thursday. Franco Frattini will be heard by two Committees, as was his unfortunate predecessor Rocco Buttiglione. On 15 November, from 6pm to 9pm, the Italian Franco Frattini will face the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, and the Latvian Andris Piebalgs will be heard by the Committee on Energy. On 16 November, from 9am to 12pm, Franco Frattini will be before the Committee on Legal Affairs, and the Hungarian Laszlo Kovacs will be heard by the Economic and Monetary Committee.
On Tuesday, Franco Frattini was in Brussels to meet firstly President designate José Manuel Barroso, then his predecessor within the Commission, Antonio Vitorino.
In a press release, Italian UDC (Unione dei democratici cristiani) Lorenzo Cesa said that "the 'monitoring' committee for fundamental freedoms formed by five Commissioners and established by Barroso during the Buttiglione cannot be kept in place" after the new nomination by the Italian government. The Committee (which Mr Barroso presents as a positive outcome of the Buttiglione incident) will remain in place, according to Joao Vale de Almeida, chef du cabinet of President Barroso, speaking on Monday evening, who stressed that this was in no way a discrimination against Italy. Mr Frattini said that he did not see a problem with keeping the Committee, of which he will be a member, in place. Armando Dionisi, the head of the UDC delegation to the European Parliament, confirmed in a press release on Tuesday the complete solidarity of his delegation with Rocco Buttiglione, and his regret for the "discrimination against him for having had the courage firmly to express his Catholic views, which are certainly not fundamentalist". Welcoming the appointment of Franco Frattini, a person of "a high professional level in matters of justice and liberty", the Italian MEP noted: "we would have expected similar sensitivity from the Hungarian government in the case of Commissioner designate Kovacs".
Speaking on television on Monday, Rocco Buttiglione said that "Frattini will be an excellent European Commissioner", adding: "let us hope that nobody asks him whether he is a free mason, because it would be a repetition of the injustice I suffered".