withdrawal from the EU. Within group, he was – together with Guy Verhofstadt and Elmar Brok – one of the Parliament's representatives at the European Council Sherpa meetings on Brexit. Following the 2019 elections, Gualtieri was part of a cross-party working group in charge of drafting the European Parliament's five-year work program on economic and fiscal policies as well as trade. Shortly after, Gualtieri was elected vice-chair of the S&D Group, under the leadership of chairwoman Iratxe García. Minister of Economy and Finance In August 2019 tensions grew within the populist government, leading to the issuing of a motion of no-confidence on Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte by the League. After Conte's resignation, the national board of the PD officially opened to the possibility of forming a new cabinet in a coalition with the M5S, based on pro-Europeanism, green economy, sustainable development, fight against economic inequality and a new immigration policy. The party also accepted that Conte may continue at the head of a new government, and on 29 August President Sergio Mattarella formally invested Conte to do so. On 5 September 2019 Gualtieri was appointed Minister of Economy and Finance. On 26 January 2020, Gualtieri was picked by the centre-left coalition as its candidate at the incoming by-election in the constituency of Rome Quartiere Trionfale for the Chamber of Deputies. The by-election follows the resignation of Paolo Gentiloni from his seat in the Chamber after his appointment as European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs in the von der Leyen Commission. In July 2020, Gualtieri, along with Prime Minister Conte and Minister Vincenzo Amendola, played a key role in one of the longest European Councils in history. After days of harsh confrontations, the European leaders agreed on a new proposal by the President of the Council, Charles Michel, which provided a budget of €750 billion for the so-called Recovery Fund, composed of €390 billion in grants and €360 billion in loans. Italy would benefit from nearly €82 billion in grants and €127 billion in loans. In January 2021, the centrist party Italia Viva withdrew its support for Conte's government. Although Conte was able to win confidence votes in the Parliament in the subsequent days, he chose to resign after failing to reach an absolute majority in the Senate. When negotiations to form Conte's third cabinet failed, the former President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, formed a national unity