Sébastien Lecornu's appointment as prime minister was, in the end, only delayed by nine months. The defense minister was to be appointed on December 13, 2024, before François Bayrou threatened to "break everything" and sidelined him. After the centrist Bayrou was ousted by the Assemblée Nationale on September 8, President Emmanuel Macron finally had a clear path to install the most discreet and loyal of his ministers as head of government. Lecornu is also the longest-serving: At 39, he is the most senior member of the Macron administration, having served as a minister continuously for more than eight years.

Yet most French people do not know him. Born in Normandy, the only child of an aeronautical technician and a medical secretary, he began his political activism at 16 with the right-wing UMP party, then with Les Républicains (LR), also on the right. At 22, he became a parliamentary aide to Bruno Le Maire, then an MP with UMP. At 28, he was elected mayor of Vernon, and the following year, became the youngest president of the same administrative department.

He joined the first government of Prime Minister Edouard Philippe (2017-2020), as its youngest member, following Le Maire in June 2017, without ever having met Macron. First appointed junior minister to Nicolas Hulot, then minister for the environmental transition and solidarity, Lecornu was put in charge of local authorities from October 2018. The president discovered him in 2019, during the national "great debate" that followed the Yellow Vest protests; the first debate took place in Grand-Bourgtheroulde, in Lecornu's constituency. Lecornu advised the president to involve the mayors and to open registers for grievances. The initiative was a success.

You have 74.96% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.