France's Emmanuel Macron is due to pick a prime minister on Friday, October 10, who would be tasked with pulling the country out of a political gridlock, in a move that staves off fresh elections for now. French politics have been deadlocked ever since last year, when Macron took the gamble of calling snap elections that he hoped would consolidate power, but instead resulted in a hung parliament and more seats for the far right.
Macron was due to meet with leaders of all political parties, apart from the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) and the radical left La France Insoumise parties, in the early afternoon.
The centrist president, facing the worst domestic crisis of his presidency since 2017, has yet to address the public. The escalating crisis has seen former allies criticise the president. 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. Yet Macron has always insisted he would stay until the end of his term.
Macron's office said he would pick a name by Friday evening after his seventh prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, resigned on Monday, after months of political stalemate over an austerity budget bill. His two predecessors were toppled in a standoff over spending bills, and a new cabinet lineup, which he unveiled on Sunday, was criticised for not breaking with the past enough.
A Macron loyalist, Lecornu agreed to stay on for two extra days to talk to all political parties, and told French television late on Wednesday that he was optimistic that a new cabinet could get a budget bill passed through parliament.
Lecornu has said a revised draft budget for 2026 could be presented to a council of ministers on Monday, the deadline for the bill to pass parliament by the end of the year. This would imply a new cabinet being announced by the end of the weekend.
Marine Le Pen, whose far-right party declined to take part in talks with Lecornu this week, said Wednesday she would thwart all action by any new government and would "vote against everything."
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.
Lecornu, who served as defense minister under Macron for three years, gave no further clue as to who the next premier would be. He claimed his mission was finished, but several politicians believe the president could rename him, at the risk of exasperating the opposition and triggering another no-confidence vote.