Consumer and Humanitarian Affairs Commissioner Emma Bonino has officially declared her candidacy for the post of Italian president

Date: 11/03/1999

which will become vacant in a few months' time. However, Bonino, who is standing as the Radical Party's candidate, is said to have little chance of winning the post, which is expected to go to a more mainstream candidate. A spokesman for the European Commission this week rejected suggestions that Bonino's bid for the presidency clashed with new rules governing Commissioners' outside activities.