🔗 Share this article

The French leader has asked Sébastien Lecornu to resume duties as the nation's premier only four days after he stepped down, causing a period of political upheaval and crisis.

The president declared towards the end of the week, shortly after gathering key political groups in one place at the official residence, excluding the representatives of the extremist parties.

The decision to reinstate him came as a surprise, as he said on national TV recently that he was not seeking the position and his task was complete.

It is not even certain whether he will be able to establish a ruling coalition, but he will have to start immediately. He faces a cut-off on Monday to present the annual budget before parliament.

Governing Obstacles and Budgetary Strains

The presidency announced the president had “tasked [Lecornu] with forming a government”, and his advisors suggested he had been given full authority to act.

Lecornu, who is one of the president's key supporters, then released a comprehensive announcement on X in which he accepted “out of duty” the assignment assigned by the president, to strive to provide France with a budget by the end of the year and tackle the daily concerns of our fellow citizens.

Partisan conflicts over how to bring down government borrowing and balance the books have led to the ouster of two of the past three prime ministers in the last year, so his task is immense.

Government liabilities earlier this year was close to 114% of gross domestic product – the number three in the currency union – and current shortfall is estimated to amount to 5.4% of economic output.

The premier stated that everyone must contribute the necessity of restoring government accounts. Given the limited time before the end of Macron's presidency, he advised that prospective ministers would have to put on hold their presidential ambitions.

Governing Without a Majority

What makes it even harder for Lecornu is that he will face a vote of confidence in a National Assembly where the president has lacks sufficient support to support him. Macron's approval hit a record low recently, according to an Elabe poll that put his approval rating on just 14%.

The far-right leader of the National Rally party, which was excluded of Macron's talks with political chiefs on the end of the week, said that the decision, by a president out of touch at the official residence, is a “bad joke”.

They would quickly propose a motion of censure against a doomed coalition, whose sole purpose was dreading polls, he continued.

Forming Coalitions

Lecornu at least knows the pitfalls ahead as he tries to establish a cabinet, because he has already spent two days lately talking to factions that might participate in his administration.

By themselves, the moderate factions cannot form a government, and there are divisions within the conservative Republicans who have assisted Macron's governments since he lost his majority in elections last year.

So he will look to progressive groups for potential support.

To gain leftist support, the president's advisors suggested the president was thinking of postponing to portions of his controversial retirement changes implemented recently which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64.

That fell short of what socialist figures hoped for, as they were anticipating he would choose a premier from their side. The Socialist leader of the Socialists said lacking commitments, they would withhold backing to back the prime minister.

The Communist figure from the Communists commented post-consultation that the left wanted real change, and a premier from the president's centrist camp would not be accepted by the French people.

Environmental party head the Green figure remarked she was surprised Macron had provided few concessions to the left, adding that outcomes would be negative.