French President Emmanuel Macron has reappointed Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister. The Élysée reported this in a statement on Friday evening, just a few days after Lecornu resigned.
Lecornu’s first most important task is to submit a budget to parliament by Monday. To achieve this, he must compete with opposition parties for a majority. “Out of duty, I accept the President’s assignment to provide France with a budget this year and to tackle the daily problems of our fellow citizens,” Lecornu wrote on X.
“We must put an end to this political crisis that is exhausting the French and to the instability that is damaging France’s image and interests.”
Chaos
It is a new chapter in the political chaos that reigns in the French government. After the parliamentary elections in 2024, three prime ministers took office in France. There was little support in parliament for their intended policy. Unlike previous years, Macron could not count on a parliamentary majority, which meant he was accused of a major lack of decisiveness.
The last of the trio of prime ministers to rule was the now reinstated Lecornu. He is considered a confidant of Macron and resigned on Monday. Lecornu had been active for less than a month at the time.
This week, when he was still prime minister, Lecornu announced that he wanted to work with left-wing parties to find support for the national budget. Another possibility was early parliamentary and presidential elections, but that has been averted for the time being with the appointment of Lecornu.
In 2022, Macron lost his majority in parliament. Since then, parliament has been deeply divided on many issues. From 2002 onwards, French presidents could invariably govern with a parliamentary majority: they could therefore implement laws and budgets without support from the opposition.
The opposition has been very critical of Macron for some time. But criticism of Macron has also increased outside politics in recent years. For example, trade unions find his management style undemocratic and technocratic.
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Now that Macron is also criticized by those close to him, his end seems closer than ever
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