In the last days of Italy’s European election campaign, where gossip and scandal have triumphed over substance, Emma Bonino, former European Union commissioner for humanitarian affairs, has gone on hunger strike in the studios of Rai, the state broadcaster.

“In Italy nobody knows what they are voting for, what is the European parliament, who is standing or on what platform,” a hoarse Ms Bonino told the Financial Times on Wednesday, after 36 hours without food or drink.