French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, October 13, accused rival political forces of fuelling instability by undermining newly reappointed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, whose government faces immediate threats of censure. "It is everyone's duty to work towards stability," Macron said, as Lecornu prepared to deliver a policy speech Tuesday afternoon in the lower house of parliament.
The radical-left La France Insoumise party and far-right Rassemblement National have threatened to topple the new cabinet, unveiled late Sunday after protracted political deadlock.
"Many of those who have fueled division and speculation have not risen to the moment," Macron said upon his arrival in Egypt, where he is attending the Gaza summit. "The political forces that have instigated the destabilization of Sébastien Lecornu are solely responsible for this chaos," he added.
France has been mired in political crisis since Macron took the gamble in the summer of 2024 of calling snap elections intended to consolidate his power, but which ended up in a hung parliament and more seats for the far right.
Lecornu's first cabinet collapsed within less than 24 hours amid backlash over the lack of fresh faces, and he resigned. Macron renamed Lecornu premier on Friday, triggering outrage and vows from opponents to oust the government at the first chance. Lecornu, a former defense minister and self-described "warrior monk", has said his new team – a mixture of loyalists and technocrats – would deliver a budget before year's end.
The new cabinet is expected to present a draft budget on Tuesday morning, aiming for a deficit below 5% of GDP, according to new government spokesperson Maud Bregeon. The cabinet must give parliament the constitutionally required 70 days to scrutinize the plan before the end of the year.
Macron's camp lost its majority in last year's snap elections, leaving Lecornu reliant on fragile alliances. The leftist Socialists, a swing group, have warned they may also vote against the government, unless Lecornu backs off from a controversial 2023 pension reform that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The right-wing Les Républicains, once a key political ally of Macron, said this weekend they would only cooperate on a "bill-by-bill" basis.
Macron, facing his worst domestic crisis since the start of his presidency in 2017, declined on Monday to speculate on a possible dissolution of parliament in case of another government failure. "I'm not making any bets," he said. "I want the country to move forward."