Macron reappoints Lecornu as French Prime Minister after days of unrest

President Emmanuel Macron has asked Sébastien Lecornu to return as French Prime Minister just four days after he stepped down, sparking a week of high drama and political turmoil.

Macron made the announcement late Friday, hours after he brought all the major parties together at the Elysee Palace, except for the leaders of the far right and far left.

Lecornu’s return came as a surprise, as he had said on national television just two days earlier that he was “not after the job” and that his “mission was over.”

It is not even certain that he will be able to form a government, but he will have to hit the ground running. The new prime minister has a deadline on Monday to present next year’s budget to Parliament.

The Elysee said the president “tasked (Lecornu) to form a government” and Macron’s delegation indicated he had been given “carte blanche” to act.

Lecornu, one of Macron’s closest allies, then issued a long statement on Canal

Political divisions over how to reduce France’s national debt and reduce the budget deficit have led to the downfall of two of the previous three prime ministers in the past year, so the challenge he faces is enormous.

Earlier this year, France’s public debt reached nearly 114% of economic output – the third highest in the eurozone – and the budget deficit this year is expected to reach 5.4% of GDP.

Lecornu said that “no one will be able to evade” the need to restore public finances in France. Just 18 months before the end of Macron’s presidency, he warned that anyone joining his government would be forced to put their presidential ambitions on hold.

What makes it more difficult for Lecornu is that he will face a vote of confidence in the National Assembly, where Macron does not have a majority to support him. The president’s popularity reached a record high this week, according to an Elabe poll that put his approval rating at 14%.

Jordan Bardella of the far-right National Rally party, who was not invited to Macron’s talks with party leaders on Friday, said Lecornu’s reappointment by a president who is “more isolated and disconnected in the Elysee than ever before is a bad joke.”

Bardella added that his party would immediately put forward a vote of no confidence in the ill-fated coalition, whose only reason for existing was fear of the elections.

Lecornu at least knows the risks that lie ahead as he tries to form a government, because he has already spent two days this week talking with parties that might join his government.

Centrist parties alone cannot form a government, and there are divisions within conservative Republicans who have helped support Macron’s governments since he lost his majority in last year’s elections.

So, Lecornu will look to left-wing parties for potential support.

In an attempt to appeal to the left, Macron’s team has indicated that the president is considering postponing part of his highly controversial pension reforms passed in 2023 that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64.

This did not live up to what the left leaders wanted, as they hoped that he would choose a prime minister of their own. “Since we did not receive any guarantees, we will not give any guarantee (to support the prime minister) in the vote of confidence,” Olivier Faure of the Socialists said.

Fabien Roussel of the Communists said after his meeting with the president that the left wants real change, and the French people will not accept a prime minister from the president’s centrist camp.

Green Party leader Marine Tondillier said she was “astonished” that Macron had offered the left almost nothing, adding that “all this will end very badly.”