18/10/2018 (Agence Europe) – The Italian Minister of the Interior, the populist Matteo Salvini, may well run for President of the European Commission after the May 2019 elections, or at least do not count him out. "It is true, friends from different European countries are asking me to, proposing it”, Salvini said in an interview published on Thursday 18 October by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. "I am pleased that they see me as a point of reference for the defence of peoples, even outside Italy", he added. Nevertheless, he leaves some doubt. "May is still a long way off. We'll see, I'll think about it", he continues. At the beginning of October, with its French ally Marine Le Pen (see EUROPE 12112), he reiterated his ambition to propose an alternation to the European management. (MF)