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French President Emmanuel Macron has reappointed Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister, with the task of forming a government and trying to pass a budget for 2026.
Lecornu said on Friday evening he had accepted Macron’s “mission” to “do everything so France has a budget for the end of the year”.
France has been gripped by a deepening political crisis since Macron called snap elections last year that resulted in a hung parliament, with the president having subsequently appointed and then lost three prime ministers, including Lecornu.
A close ally of Macron, Lecornu resigned on Monday after less than a month in office, having appointed a cabinet filled with Macron allies that sparked opposition from the premier’s rightwing partners.
Hours later, Macron asked Lecornu to lead two days of negotiations with political parties to try and find a way out of the impasse, and identify areas of compromise that could enable him to deliver a deficit-cutting budget.
“We must put an end to this political crisis that is exasperating French people and this instability that is bad for France’s image and its interests,” Lecornu said on Friday.
The Élysée said in a statement: “The president of the republic has appointed Sébastien Lecornu prime minister, and charged him with forming a government.”
Since last year’s elections, successive prime ministers have struggled to persuade the fractured National Assembly to back a deficit-cutting budget.
France’s deficit is set to hit 5.4 per cent of GDP this year, and investor concerns about the country’s ability to reduce it have served to roil financial markets and push up France’s borrowing costs.
Lecornu vowed that restoring the country’s public finances would be a “priority”, but added that all areas discussed during the 48 hours of talks with political parties would be open to parliamentary debate.
His reappointment as premier comes despite Lecornu having appeared on Wednesday to rule out returning as prime minister.
His chances of implementing a budget will depend on whether he can garner support for deficit reduction plans, including by providing sufficient concessions to the Socialist party, a key swing vote in parliament.
One possible concession could involve Macron’s hard-fought reform to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
During a meeting with party leaders earlier on Friday, Macron said pushing back the timing of the gradual increases in the retirement age was an “example” of potential compromise, Élysée officials said.
But no commitments have been made and the suggestion to push back the increases is far from the suspension of the reform demanded by Olivier Faure, leader of the Socialists.
Prior to Lecornu’s reappointment, Faure said he would not rule out rejecting another Macron ally as premier in a confidence vote. The Socialists later denied reports that a deal had been cut not to try to oust Lecornu.
Watering down Macron’s pro-business reforms risks enlarging France’s deficit: outgoing finance minister Roland Lescure said earlier this week that pausing pensions changes could cost billions in the coming years.
Such a move could also alienate members of the president’s centrist bloc in parliament and the rightwing Républicains, whose support Lecornu also needs.
The scale of Lecornu’s challenges was laid bare as the far right Rassemblement National said it would “immediately” seek a no-confidence vote in Lecornu.
Marine Le Pen, party leader, said a “dissolution [of parliament] is more than ever unavoidable”.
