ever summer general election in Italy) as a realistic option to take into consideration due to the deadlock situation. The Lega and M5S agreed to hold new elections on 8 July, an option that was however rejected by all other parties. On 9 May, after a day of rumours, both Salvini and Di Maio officially requested that President Mattarella give them 24 more hours to strike a government agreement between the two parties. That evening, Silvio Berlusconi publicly announced Forza Italia would not support a Five Star Movement – League government on a vote of confidence, but he would still maintain the centre-right alliance nonetheless, thus opening the door to a possible majority government between the two parties. On 13 May, the Five Star Movement and the League reached an agreement in principle on a government programme, likely clearing the way for the formation of a governing coalition between the two parties, but could not find an agreement regarding the members of a government cabinet, most importantly the prime minister. Five Star Movement and League leaders met with Mattarella on 14 May to guide the formation of a new government. On their meeting with President Mattarella, both parties asked for an additional week of negotiations to agree on a detailed government programme and a prime minister to lead the joint government. Both M5S and the League announced their intention to ask their respective members to vote on the government agreement by the weekend. On 21 May 2018, Di Maio and Salvini proposed the professor of private law Giuseppe Conte for the role of Prime Minister in the 2018 Italian government, despite reports in the Italian press suggesting that President Mattarella still had significant reservations about the direction of the new government. On 23 May 2018, Conte was invited to the Quirinal Palace to receive the presidential mandate to form a new cabinet. In the traditional statement after the appointment, Conte said that he would be the "defense lawyer of the Italian people". However, on 27 May, Conte renounced his office, due to conflicts between Salvini and President Mattarella. In fact, Salvini proposed the university professor Paolo Savona as Minister of Economy and Finances, but Mattarella strongly opposed him. In his speech after Conte's resignation, Mattarella declared that the two parties wanted to bring Italy out of the Eurozone, and as the guarantor of the Italian Constitution and the country's interest