Italy picks Rocco Buttiglione for EU commission

The Italian government on Friday nominated European Affairs Minister Rocco Buttiglione to become Italy's EU commissioner, a government statement said.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi telephoned incoming Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barosso, who agreed to Buttiglione's nomination, said the statement.

Buttiglione, 56, was supported for the post by his centrist Christian Democratic Union.

The Northern League, another party in Berlusconi's four-party coalition government had supported renominating Italy's outgoing EU Commissioner Mario Monti, which would have let him hold onto the competition portfolio.

A native of Gallipoli in Italy's southern Pouilles region, the soft-spoken cigar-smoking Buttiglione is known for his positions close to the Vatican on abortion, artificial insemination and private schools.

The former philosophy professor was a long-time member of the conservative Catholic group Communion and Liberation.

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