Complex sentence: Beyond the candidates designated by European political parties, some independent figures, such as Mario Monti, have been considered for the post of Commission president, but Monti and ex President of the European Commission Romano Prodi have declared their support to Guy Verhofstadt.
Split into simpler sentences: Beyond the candidates designated by European political parties, some independent figures, such as Mario Monti, have been considered for the post of Commission president. But Mario Monti and ex President of the European Commission Romano Prodi have declared their support to Guy Verhofstadt.