In swift arrangements, former IMF Director of the Fiscal Affairs Carlo Cottarelli accepted Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s appointment to form an interim government. That came after Giuseppe Conte abandoned the effort to form a new coalition government of the 5-Star Movement and the League, following Mattarella’s veto of eurosceptic Paolo Savona as the as economy minister.
The Prime Minister designate Cottarelli said that “I’ll present myself to parliament with a program which – if it wins the backing of parliament – would include the approval of the 2019 budget. Then parliament would be dissolved with elections at the beginning of 2019.”
Or, “in the absence of (parliament’s) confidence, the government would resign immediately and its main function would be the management of ordinary affairs until elections are held after the month of August,”