🔗 Share this article

President Emmanuel Macron has called upon his former prime minister to resume duties as head of government only four days after he stepped down, causing a week of intense uncertainty and instability.

Macron declared late on Friday, hours after gathering leading factions in one place at the official residence, excluding the representatives of the far right and far left.

The decision to reinstate him shocked many, as he said on broadcast recently that he was not “chasing the job” and his role had concluded.

Doubts remain whether he will be able to establish a ruling coalition, but he will have to hit the ground running. The new prime minister faces a deadline on Monday to submit financial plans before lawmakers.

Governing Obstacles and Budgetary Strains

Officials confirmed the president had given him the duty of creating a administration, and his advisors indicated he had been given complete freedom to proceed.

The prime minister, who is one of a trusted associate, then issued a detailed message on X in which he agreed to take on as an obligation the mission entrusted to me by the president, to strive to secure a national budget by the December and address the everyday problems of our countrymen.

Ideological disagreements over how to reduce France's national debt and reduce the fiscal shortfall have led to the resignation of several leaders in the past twelve months, so his challenge is immense.

Government liabilities in the past months was almost 114% of economic output (GDP) – the third largest in the currency union – and the annual fiscal gap is projected to amount to 5.4 percent of GDP.

Lecornu emphasized that no one can avoid the necessity of fixing the nation's budget. With only 18 months before the completion of his mandate, he warned that those in the cabinet would have to put on hold their presidential ambitions.

Governing Without a Majority

What makes it even harder for the prime minister is that he will face a vote of confidence in a parliament where Macron has lacks sufficient support to endorse his government. The president's popularity reached its lowest point recently, according to research that put his support level on 14%.

The far-right leader of the National Rally party, which was excluded of consultations with party leaders on the end of the week, remarked that the prime minister's return, by a president out of touch at the Élysée, is a poor decision.

They would immediately bring a motion of censure against a struggling administration, whose main motivation was avoiding a vote, the leader stated.

Forming Coalitions

Lecornu at least is aware of the challenges in his path as he tries to establish a cabinet, because he has already devoted 48 hours lately consulting factions that might support him.

By themselves, the centrist parties are insufficient, and there are splits within the right-leaning party who have assisted the ruling coalition since he failed to secure enough seats in elections last year.

So he will consider socialist factions for potential support.

To gain leftist support, Macron's team indicated the president was thinking of postponing to part of his highly contentious pension reforms enacted last year which increased the pension age from 62 up to 64.

That fell short of what left-wing leaders desired, as they were anticipating he would choose a prime minister from the left. The Socialist leader of the Socialists commented without assurances, they would offer no support in a vote of confidence.

Fabien Roussel from the left-wing party commented post-consultation that the left wanted real change, and a premier from the moderate faction would not be endorsed by the citizens.

Greens leader Marine Tondelier remarked she was surprised Macron had offered the left almost nothing to the left, adding that the situation would deteriorate.