The French Prime Minister appoints the government as he seeks to finalize the budget

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French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu unveiled a new government on Sunday evening in a bid to try to win parliament’s approval for the 2026 budget and defuse the deepening political crisis.

Lecornu, who resigned on Monday last week and was reappointed by President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, chose Roland Lescure to remain as finance minister.

But he also turned to some new faces in an attempt to appease opposition parties in France’s hung parliament. Paris Police Chief Laurent Nunez was appointed Minister of the Interior.

The new government is now scheduled to meet to put the final touches on the draft 2026 budget within the next two days, before presenting it to Parliament.

“A government has been appointed whose mission is to give France a budget by the end of the year. There is only one thing that is important: the interest of our country,” Lecornu said on the X program.

Since last year’s legislative elections resulted in a hung parliament, Macron has appointed and lost three prime ministers as they struggle to finalize the 2026 budget that would reduce France’s deficit.

The deficit is expected to reach 5.4 percent of GDP this year, and investor concerns about the country’s ability to reduce this deficit have roiled financial markets and pushed up borrowing costs in France.

This is a developing story