Macron reappoints Le Cornue as French prime minister after days of chaos

President Emmanuel Macron has called for Sébastien Lecornu to return as French prime minister just four days after he resigned, sparking a week of drama and political turmoil.

President Macron made the announcement late Friday, hours after all major political parties, excluding far-right and far-left leaders, gathered at the Elysee Palace.

Lecornu’s return came as a surprise, as he told national TV just two days ago that he was not “chasing work” and that his “mission was done”.

It’s not clear whether he will be able to form a government, but he will have to get down to business. The deadline for the new prime minister to submit next year’s budget to the National Assembly is Monday.

Élysée said the president had “entrusted (Lecornu) to form the government” and Macron’s associates said he had been given “carte blanche” to act.

Le Cornue, 39 and one of Macron’s most loyal allies, issued a lengthy statement about X. “I have accepted as a duty the task entrusted to me by the President to provide France with a budget by the end of the year and to respond to the daily problems of our compatriots,” he said.

Appearing on French television this week, Le Cornue described himself as a “soldier monk” and said “I will do everything to make this mission a success” as he prepares to form a government on Friday.

His challenge is enormous, as two out of three prime ministers were defeated last year due to political divisions over how to reduce France’s national debt and budget deficit.

At the start of the year, France’s public debt was the third highest in the euro zone at nearly 114% of economic output (GDP), and this year’s budget deficit is expected to reach 5.4% of GDP.

One of the conditions that Lecornu put forward for taking up this position was that “no one will be able to evade the need to restore France’s public finances.” With 18 months left in Macron’s presidency, he warned that anyone who joins his government will have to put their presidential ambitions on hold.

What makes it even more difficult for Lecornu is that he faces a vote of confidence in the National Assembly, where Macron does not have a majority to support him. The president’s popularity hit an all-time low this week, according to an Elabe poll that put his approval rating at 14%.

Jordan Bardella, a member of the far-right caucus who was not invited to a meeting with Macron’s party leaders last Friday, said Lecornu’s reappointment was a “bad joke” from a president who is “more isolated and disconnected from the Elysee than ever before.”

Bardella said his party would hold an immediate vote of no confidence in the doomed coalition over election fears. Currently, the National Rally is leading in public opinion polls.

Lecornu is at least aware of the risks ahead as he attempts to form a government. That’s because he’s already spent two days talking to the political parties that will participate this week.

He was first appointed prime minister on September 9 and formed a government over the next three weeks, but the government collapsed overnight when conservative Republican leader Bruno Retailleau criticized one of his ministerial appointments.

A centrist party alone cannot form a government, and divisions are occurring even within the conservative Republican Party, which has supported the Macron government, which lost its majority in last year’s election.

Retailleau, known to have presidential ambitions, made it clear that he was not a member of Lecornu II. common ground (Common Platform) Centrists and conservatives are considered dead. Not all of his party colleagues agree.

But it means the centrist prime minister is also looking to left-wing parties for potential support.

In a bid to win over the left, Macron’s team said the president was considering delaying part of the highly controversial pension reform passed in 2023 that would have raised the retirement age from 62 to 64.

This risks angering key centrist allies who fought hard for pension reform. It falls short of the demands of left-wing leaders who wanted Macron to elect a prime minister on their side.

“We will not give any guarantees (that we will support the prime minister) in a vote of confidence because we have not received any guarantees,” said Olivier Faure of the Socialist Party.

After meeting the president, Communist Party member Fabien Roussel said the left wanted real change and that a prime minister from the president’s centrist camp would not be accepted by the French people.

Green party leader Marine Tondlier said she was “astonished” that Macron had offered almost nothing to the left, adding: “All of this will lead to very bad consequences.”

Macron and his former prime minister are seeking to reduce the government’s budget deficit by tens of billions of euros, while the head of the Bank of France has warned that political turmoil will set the economy back further.

The bank expects growth of 0.7% this year, but its president, François Villeroy de Galhau, said it could have been higher and that uncertainty surrounding the crisis had put France’s additional growth at around 0.2%.

“Like many people in France, I have had enough of this (political) turmoil,” he told RTL radio. “Now is the time for compromise. That’s not a dirty word. Even forming coalitions.”

If Le Cornou fails to form a government, instability could increase and the French economy would suffer even greater losses.