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French President Emmanuel Macron reappointed Sebastien Lecornu as the Prime Minister on Friday (October 10), days after the latter had tendered his resignation and earned the dubious distinction of the shortest tenure.
“The president of the Republic has appointed Mr Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister and tasked him with forming a government,” the Elysée Palace said without providing further details.
In a social media post, Lecornu announced that he had accepted the responsibility “out of duty”. “We must put an end to this political crisis that exasperates the French people and to this instability that is harmful to France’s image and its interests,” he added.
The announcement, made at an emergency all-party meeting held by the president earlier that day, came as a shock to the leftist parties. The French far-right, led by the National Rally, has vowed to unseat the new government in a confidence vote once Lecornu presents the new budget on Monday.
Lecornu’s appointment had signalled Macron’s intent to retain continuity and a propensity for business. At 39, he had been the youngest defence minister in French history. He is a former conservative who joined Macron’s centrist Renaissance Party in 2017. He was also the longest-serving sitting minister in Macron’s government since 2022.
Like his predecessors, François Bayrou and Michel Barnier, Lecornu had been tasked with overseeing the French government through the impending economic crisis. His first order of business before presenting the budget for the upcoming year was to announce his cabinet of ministers to help him with the charge. However, this proved to be widely unpopular, as he announced last Sunday (October 5) a virtually unchanged cabinet from that of Bayrou’s, with the inclusion of former Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire as the defence minister. This move did not present the renewal that Macron or Lecornu had promised, Euronews reported.
Lecornu’s resignation last Monday made him the fifth Prime Minister in two years under Macron.
Lecornu, who was sworn in on September 9, resigned on Monday after only 27 days in office. His predecessor, Francois Bayrou, was appointed last December and served nine months in the post. Michel Barnier was appointed as the PM last September and lasted only three months.
All three stumbled on the crucial test of presenting the country’s budget for the upcoming year, a situation made acute by the extremely divided nature of the French parliament.
Macron’s electoral gamble of holding snap parliamentary elections last July to arrest the growing influence of the French far-right resulted in a hung, divided Parliament (the National Assembly), split between three groups. The alliance of Leftist parties, which had won the most seats, fell far short of a majority. The far-right National Rally got the most votes, but does not have a majority. Macron’s centrist coalition lost seats, but it is a significant third bloc.
This has made it difficult for any Prime Minister to garner the necessary support to pass Bills and the yearly budget. Any PM would need to garner support across the board for budgetary approval, a challenge compounded by the conservatives’ demand for cuts to social spending, and the leftists advocating for protections.
Barnier, of the conservative Republicans Party, was the EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator. His appointment was seen by some observers, such as former President Francois Hollande, as appeasing the far-right. Bayrou, of the centre-right Democratic Movement party, has been a close ally to Macron and compared the task of passing a budget to “politically climbing the Himalayas”.
If the government collapses yet again, Macron would be forced to conduct fresh parliamentary elections, in which the far-right is projected to make significant gains.
In early 2025, the French government said that its public debt stood at €3,345 billion, or 114% of the country’s GDP. This is third only to “the highest public debt in the eurozone after Greece and Italy, and equivalent to almost €50,000 per French citizen, according to a report by the BBC.
The budget deficit last year was 5.8% of GDP. The corresponding figure is likely 5.4% for this year, nearly double the European Union’s cap.
For decades, the government has spent more money than it has generated. This has forced the country to borrow to cover its budget. France also has an ageing population, with fewer workers being taxed and more citizens drawing the state pension, resulting in massive public spending. Bayrou viewed generous social programmes, such as state pensions, as having put France on “life support” and addicted to spending.
However, attempts to curtail social benefits have been politically challenging in France, as evidenced by conflicts in 2023 over Macron’s decision to raise the retirement age to 64 from 62.
Lecornu had sought to obtain cross-party consensus. While previous prime ministers had bypassed parliamentary approval to pass budgets, Lecornu sought to secure cross-party consensus on passing the slimmed-down budget amidst the deep political divisions in parliament. To this end, he had held extensive consultations with political parties across the board before announcing his cabinet last Sunday.
Francois Villeroy de Galhau, the French central bank chief on Friday projected that the current political instability would cost the economy 0.2 percent of GDP. He said it would be ideal if the deficit did not exceed 4.8 percent of GDP in 2026.
