Opinion leaders put safety third

Date: 12/03/1998

The words 'dynamic' and 'populist' have rarely been used to describe Internal Market and Taxation Commissioner Mario Monti.

While the Italian economist is generally considered to have demonstrated a keen grasp of his somewhat technical 'number-crunching' dossiers, he has not - unlike his fiery compatriot Emma Bonino - emerged as a headline-grabbing darling of the media.

The shy, softly spoken Monti is far more at ease making complex speeches on liberalisation of the Union's financial services sector than he would be tussling with Afghanistan's Taliban militia.

However, it seems that the Milanese economics professor's image as an uninspiring but reliably safe pair of hands has earned him some recognition back home.

A survey of Italian opinion-leaders puts him as third favourite to become future president of the Commission - behind German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and former President Jacques Delors. UK Premier Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi trail in fourth, fifth and sixth places.