French President Emmanuel Macron re-appointed Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister on Friday, October 10, the presidency said, four days after his resignation as the shortest-lived premier in modern French history.
"The president of the Republic has appointed Mr. Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister and tasked him with forming a government," the Élysée Palace said without providing further details, following lengthy negotiations. The president "is giving the prime minister carte blanche," said Macron's entourage.
Lecornu, 39, threw in the towel on Monday just hours after forming a largely unchanged cabinet, as it became apparent the government would likely collapse due to infighting, if not a vote of no confidence. He agreed to stay on for two extra days to talk to all political parties and told French television late Wednesday that he was optimistic that a new cabinet could get a spending bill through Parliament.
Macron, facing the worst domestic crisis of his presidency since 2017, has yet to address the public. He met with leaders of all political parties apart from the far-right Rassemblement National and the radical left La France Insoumise on Friday at the presidential palace ahead of the nomination.
French politics has been deadlocked ever since Macron gambled last year on snap polls that he hoped would consolidate power – but ended instead in a hung Parliament and more seats for the far right. Parliament toppled Lecornu's two predecessors in a standoff over cost-cutting measures.
Lecornu has said a revised draft budget for 2026 could be put forward on Monday, which would meet the deadline for its approval by the end of the year. But it was not immediately clear if this would require a fresh cabinet lineup to be announced by the weekend or not.
Lecornu's suggested list of ministers on Sunday sparked criticism that it contained too many of the same faces and did not break enough with the past. Lecornu on Wednesday suggested that a more technocratic government could be named, whose members should have no "ambitions" to stand in the 2027 presidential elections.
The escalating crisis has seen former allies criticize the president. In an unprecedented move, former premier Edouard Philippe, a contender in the next presidential elections, earlier this week said Macron himself should step down after a budget was passed. But Macron has always insisted he would stay until the end of his term.
Marine Le Pen, whose far-right party declined to take part in talks with Lecornu this week, said she would thwart all action by any new government and would "vote against everything."