Rocco Buttiglione

Rocco Buttiglione in 2009

Rocco Buttiglione (born 6 June 1948) is an Italian Union of Christian and Centre Democrats politician and an academic. Buttiglione's nomination for a post as European Commissioner with a portfolio that was to include civil liberties, resulted in controversy as some political groups opposed him for his conservative Catholic views on homosexuality, despite his assurances that these were only his personal convictions and would not dictate his administration.

Quotes

• Those who attack the judiciary do so to find themselves an alibi... The primary enemy is corruption.
  • Macché complotto, rubate un po' meno, l'Europeo, 11 September 1992, quoted in Marco Travaglio, Carta Canta – Il Buttiglione pieno e quello vuoto, Repubblica.it, 18 July 2007

• Mani Pulite began as a simple police operation in a case of bribery. Thanks to a fortunate combination of circumstances and the intelligence and tenacity of Judge Di Pietro, it developed into an investigation involving an entire political class. The mechanism that had protected the system of corruption until then had two pillars. The first was the belief that everyone did it and that therefore the laws had essentially fallen into disuse and only fools still felt bound by them. The second was the certainty that if, by chance, someone fell into the clutches of the law, powerful friends would protect them or, at least, compensate them. Antonio Di Pietro and his colleagues succeeded in subverting these two pillars.
  • La Stampa, 8 December 1994; quoted in Marco Travaglio, Carta Canta – Il Buttiglione pieno e quello vuoto, Repubblica.it, 18 July 2007

• My party is called Popolare (People's Party) and I believe that the people still hold Christian values, including “thou shalt not steal”, which is one of the commandments. People saw Di Pietro as the embodiment of these values that we in the Popolare Party seek to represent, so it goes without saying that I would be delighted if Di Pietro were to join us.
  • la Repubblica, 28 January 1995; quoted in Marco Travaglio, Carta Canta – Il Buttiglione pieno e quello vuoto, Repubblica.it, 18 July 2007.

• Di Pietro appeared to be someone capable of enforcing the law against bullies, a bit like Robin Hood.
  • La Stampa, 4 November 1995; quoted in Marco Travaglio, Carta Canta – Il Buttiglione pieno e quello vuoto, Repubblica.it, 18 July 2007

• Berlusconi cannot act as a prophet of bipolarism, preaching rules that God has revealed only to him and that authorise him to contravene the rules of the Constitution. The Constitution is what it is. Berlusconi thinks that elections are held and that votes are like shares that can be put away. Instead, the people elect members of parliament, and they are accountable to the voters, not to Berlusconi.
  • ANSA, 16 October 1998; quoted in Marco Travaglio, Silvio Akbar, Repubblica.it, 27 April 2007

• As a Roman Catholic, I consider homosexuality a sin, but not a crime. Mine is a moral position that does not affect the rights that must be recognised for all.
  • Giuseppe Sarcina, Buttiglione, debutto da commissario Attacchi sui gay e risposte in 5 lingue, Corriere della Sera, 6 October 2004.

• Children who only have a mother and no father are the children of a not very good mother. And children who only have a father are not children, because a man alone can make a robot. But he cannot make children.
  • Marco Marozzi, Buttiglione contro le madri single: "I bambini nascano in famiglia", Repubblica.it, 16 October 2004

• Can I link Luca di Montezemolo and Pope Benedict XVI? Both condemn ethical relativism, understood as the transfiguration of the Italian art of getting by, looking out for oneself and disregarding the common good.
  • Corriere della Sera, 28 December 2005

• Silvio is great. We do not regret the good things we have done with him, but he is the past, let's say it loud and clear. The country can no longer hold out and needs someone to show the way to the future.
  • Agi, 14 April 2007; quoted in Marco Travaglio, Carta Canta – Silvio Akbar, Repubblica.it, 27 April 2007

• We are writing to you with a request to improve the quality of life in the Senate. The refreshment bar does not serve ice cream. We believe it would be useful to do so and we are certain that this reflects the wishes of many. Would it be possible to arrange this?
  • Filippo Ceccarelli, La protesta di Buttiglione: voglio il gelato alla buvette, Repubblica.it, 8 June 2007

• There is a politicisation of the judiciary that negatively distinguishes our country in the European context and shakes citizens' confidence in the judiciary. An entire political class has been swept away with a few convictions, but with many notices of investigation, sometimes with the suspicion that these were carefully calibrated to achieve political effects.
  • From the speech in session no. 192 of 13 July 2007 of the Senate of the Italian Republic.

• From a political and social point of view, I am against any discrimination against gay people. But morally, I think it is wrong. However, there are many things that are morally wrong but which the law should not prosecute.
  • From the TV program Un giorno da pecora. Quoted in «Essere gay? E' come non pagare le tasse», Corriere della Sera, 25 October 2010.

• I'm better at wooing than Berlusconi: I can prove it to you.
  • From an interview to the weekly A, 29 giugno 2011. Quoted in Buttiglione "sfida" Berlusconi «Io corteggio meglio di lui», corriere.it, 28 June 2011.

• (About Silvio Berlusconi) The Prime Minister has a terrible fear of women. Jokes, vulgar remarks and sports bar comments are just a way of avoiding any real engagement with that world. But the more someone acts like a bully, the more they try to reduce women to sex objects, the more it shows that they feel insecure and unable to handle the situation.
  • From an interview to the weekly A, 29 giugno 2011. Quoted in Buttiglione "sfida" Berlusconi «Io corteggio meglio di lui», corriere.it, 28 June 2011.

• Silvio sincerely loved his wife, and the break-up was a profound trauma that he tried to overcome in the worst possible way. Bunga bunga was his response to the pain. I heard him talk about Veronica: he didn't see her as a sexual object, she was the woman of his life, the mother of his children...
  • From an interview to the weekly A, 29 giugno 2011. Quoted in Buttiglione "sfida" Berlusconi «Io corteggio meglio di lui», corriere.it, 28 June 2011.

• I haven't changed my opinion on gay people. Politically and legally, I am in favour of non-discrimination, but morally, I think what the Catholic Church thinks: homosexuality is a moral disorder. If God gave you a male body, you can never be a woman. You can never get pregnant. And pretending to be something you are not makes you feel bad; you lose your life in exchange for a fiction.
  • From an interview to the weekly A, 29 giugno 2011. Quoted in Buttiglione "sfida" Berlusconi «Io corteggio meglio di lui», corriere.it, 28 June 2011.

Quotes about

• By signing the motion of no confidence in the Berlusconi government together with Bossi, Buttiglione has shown himself to be a double-dealing fool.
  • Silvio Berlusconi, 18 December 1994; quoted in Marco Travaglio, Carta Canta – Ma quanto lo amavano/1, Repubblica.it, 27 October 2004.

• He makes one mistake after another and says incredible nonsense. He has destroyed three parties. But as a writer he is exceptional.
  • Teodoro Buontempo, Teodoro Buontempo, 13 September 2001

• As an ethical relativist, the only certainty that sustains me is not wanting and not knowing how to impose my way of life on Professor Buttiglione. He cannot say the same.
  • Michele Serra, la Repubblica, 9 February 2007

• He has the unbearable pretension of appearing to be a philosopher when he is, at most, a professor of philosophy.
  • Gianni De Michelis, Rocco Buttiglione, 2 October 2003

• In conclusion, I would like to remind posterity – but we all know this because it is written in the history books – that Mr Buttiglione was rejected as European Commissioner by the European Parliament because of his countless statements, defined by the European Parliament as discriminatory against homosexuals. Buttiglione's words and statements over the years regarding homosexuals are not linked to ideological reasons, but to personal reasons.
  • Paola Concia, Session of the Chamber of Deputies No. 476 of Monday, 23 May 2011 – XVI Legislature – Stenographic report of the Assembly – Discussion of the bill: Soro et al.: Regulations for the protection of victims of crimes motivated by homophobia and transphobia (A.C. 2802-A). Chamber of Deputies, 23 May 2011