Sébastien Lecornu (l), reappointed as prime minister days after he quit, faces a huge challenge drafting a budget that can get through parliament and address France’s soaring debt.BENOIT TESSIER/AFP/Getty Images
French President Emmanuel Macron has reappointed Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister, just five days after Mr. Lecornu quit the post as he was unable to form a government.
Mr. Lecornu accepted the job once again late Friday, saying he was acting “out of duty.” He also promised “to do everything possible” to shepherd a budget through the fractious National Assembly by the end of the year.
“We must put an end to this political crisis that is exasperating the French people and to end this instability that is bad for the image of France and its interests,” he said on X.
The political déjà vu is unlikely to resolve the debt crisis facing the country or quell the calls for Mr. Macron to step down. Mr. Lecornu was the third prime minister to resign this year.
Many MPs blame Mr. Macron for the turmoil and argue the only way out of the deadlock is for him to quit. Mr. Macron has two years left in his mandate and he has shown no interest in leaving early.
He appointed Mr. Lecornu as Prime Minister last month after the previous government collapsed. Mr. Lecornu spent three weeks putting together a cabinet only to resign on Monday just 24 hours after unveiling his selections, when disagreements broke out among some of the newly named ministers.
At the behest of Mr. Macron, Mr. Lecornu spent the next two days negotiating with other political leaders to find a way out of the impasse. That ended without much progress and on Wednesday, Mr. Lecornu said that his mission was over.
French politics remained highly unpredictable on Monday, a political analyst said, after the country's new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned only hours after naming the members of his new cabinet.
Reuters
Mr. Macron had the option, as President, of appointing a new prime minister or calling parliamentary elections.
Throughout the day on Friday, he held meetings with politicians from a variety of parties and determined that a consensus could be formed around Mr. Lecornu’s budget proposals, which would negate the need for an election. So he turned once again to Mr. Lecornu, who is part of Mr. Macron’s centrist alliance in parliament.
However, Mr. Macron excluded the two largest blocks in the National Assembly from Friday’s discussions: a hard-left alliance led by France Unbowed, and a far-right group led by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally.
Both of those groups have been pressing for an election. They indicated on Friday that they will move to bring down Mr. Lecornu’s government as soon as possible.
“A new middle finger to the French from an irresponsible person drunk on his power. France and its people are humiliated,” Manuel Bompard, the deputy leader of France Unbowed, wrote on X.
Ms. Le Pen said her party would introduce a motion of non-confidence, known as censure, as early as next week. “The manoeuvres continue, censorship is therefore necessary and dissolution is more unavoidable than ever,” she said late Friday on X.
Even parties such as the Socialists, Greens and Republicans, which Mr. Macron expected to offer some support for Mr. Lecornu, were non-committal on Friday after learning of his return.
“There is absolutely no deal with the Socialist Party. We gave no assurances or guarantees,” the party’s Secretary-General Pierre Jouvet told French media.
Green Party Leader Marine Tondelier said on X that she saw no reason not to censure the government.
And Julien Aubert, vice-president of the centre-right Republicans, called the return of Mr. Lecornu “a mockery.”
“Reappointing the same prime minister after such a circus is a provocation. The symbolism is terrible,” he said on X.
Given the hostile reception, Mr. Lecornu faces a huge challenge drafting a budget that can get through parliament and address the country’s soaring debt.
France’s budgetary deficit has jumped above 5 per cent of gross domestic product, nearly double the 3-per-cent-of-GDP target set by the European Union. The country’s total debt is also on track to reach 116.7 per cent of GDP in 2026, among the highest in the Eurozone
So far this year, two governments have fallen after introducing budgets that called for steep spending cuts to tackle the deficit.
There have also been calls recently from several MPs for the government to scrap pension reforms that Mr. Macron pushed for in 2023. The reforms include gradually raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, which has been widely unpopular.
Dropping the pension changes could cost as much as €3-billion in 2027, or $4.8-billion, Mr. Lecornu said this week. However, he has also indicated that he was a willing to consider some changes.
On Friday, he said that, “The restoration of our public accounts remains a priority for our future and our sovereignty: No one will be able to escape this necessity.”