Macron reappoints Lecornu as French prime minister after days of unrest

President Emmanuel Macron asked Sébastien Lecornu to return as French prime minister just four days after his resignation, sparking a week of drama and political unrest.

Macron made the announcement Friday evening, hours after bringing together all the main parties at the Élysée, except for the leaders of the far right and far left.

Lecornu’s return came as a surprise, as he declared only two days ago on national television that he was not “pursuing the position” and that his “mission was complete.”

It is not even certain that he will manage to form a government, but he will have to get started from the start. The new prime minister faces a deadline on Monday to submit next year’s budget to parliament.

The Élysée declared that the president had “charged [Lecornu] to form a government” and Macron’s entourage indicated that he had “carte blanche” to act.

Lecornu, 39, one of Macron’s most loyal allies, then published a long statement on

During his appearance on French television this week, Lecornu described himself as a “monk-soldier”, and as he prepares to tackle the formation of a government, he said on Friday “I will do everything to succeed in this mission”.

Political divisions over how to reduce France’s national debt and budget deficit led to the fall of two of the last three prime ministers last year. Its challenge is therefore immense.

France’s public debt at the start of this year reached almost 114% of economic output (GDP) – the third highest in the eurozone – and this year’s budget deficit is expected to reach 5.4% of GDP.

Among the conditions set by Lecornu for accepting this position, one was that “no one can escape” the need to restore France’s public finances. With just 18 months until the end of Macron’s presidency, he also warned that anyone joining his government would have to put their presidential ambitions on hold.

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

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

Bardella said his party would immediately vote on a no-confidence vote against a doomed coalition whose only reason for existing was fear of elections. The National Rally is currently leading in the polls.

Lecornu at least knows the pitfalls that await him when he tries to form a government, because he has already spent two days this week talking with the parties likely to participate.

He was first appointed prime minister on September 9 and took the next three weeks to form a government, before it collapsed overnight when the leader of the Conservative Republicans, Bruno Retailleau, criticized one of the ministerial appointments.

Centrist parties cannot form a government on their own, and there are divisions within conservative Republicans who have helped prop up Macron’s governments since he lost his majority in last year’s election.

Retailleau, known for his presidential ambitions, made it clear that he would not be part of Lecornu II and said that common base (common platform) centrists and conservatives as dead. Not all of his party colleagues agree.

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

In an attempt to court the left, Macron’s team indicated that the president was considering delaying part of his highly controversial pension reform adopted in 2023, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64.

This risks angering the main centrist allies, who fought fiercely to pass the pension reform. It also does not meet the demands of left-wing leaders, who hoped that Macron would choose a prime minister on their side.

Olivier Faure, a socialist, declared: “Since we have not received any guarantee, we will not give any guarantee.” [to back the prime minister] in a vote of confidence.

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

Greens leader Marine Tondelier said she was “stunned” that Macron had offered almost nothing to the left, adding that “all this is going to go very badly”.

As Macron and his reappointed prime minister seek to reduce the government’s budget deficit by tens of billions of euros, the head of the French central bank warned that political unrest would set the economy back even further.

The bank forecasts growth of 0.7% this year, but its director François Villeroy de Galhau believes it could have been higher and the uncertainty surrounding the crisis has cost France around 0.2% additional growth.

“Like many in France, I have had enough of this [political] “It’s a mess,” he declared on RTL radio. “It’s time to compromise – it’s not a bad word – and even form coalitions.”

If Lecornu fails to form a government, instability could worsen, costing the French economy even more.