🔗 Share this article

President Emmanuel Macron has called upon his former prime minister to return as French prime minister a mere four days after he stepped down, triggering a stretch of political upheaval and crisis.

Macron stated towards the end of the week, hours after consulting with key political groups collectively at the presidential palace, omitting the figures of the extremist parties.

His reappointment was unexpected, as he declared on national TV recently that he was not seeking the position and his task was complete.

There is uncertainty whether he will be able to assemble a cabinet, but he will have to hit the ground running. He faces a deadline on the start of the week to submit financial plans before lawmakers.

Leadership Hurdles and Budgetary Strains

Officials confirmed the president had assigned him to build a cabinet, and those close to the president implied he had been given full authority to make decisions.

Lecornu, who is one of the president's key supporters, then published a comprehensive announcement on social media in which he consented to “out of duty” the mission assigned by the president, to do everything to finalize financial plans by the year's conclusion and tackle the daily concerns of our fellow citizens.

Ideological disagreements over how to reduce the country's public debt and reduce the fiscal shortfall have led to the fall of multiple premiers in the past twelve months, so his mission is daunting.

Government liabilities earlier this year was close to 114% of national income – the number three in the currency union – and current shortfall is expected to amount to over five percent of the economy.

Lecornu stated that “no-one will be able to shirk” the necessity of restoring France's public finances. Given the limited time before the end of Macron's presidency, he cautioned that anyone joining his government would have to put on hold their political goals.

Leading Without Support

Adding to the difficulty for the prime minister is that he will face a show of support in a parliament where Macron has is short of votes to support him. The president's popularity reached its lowest point this week, according to an Elabe poll that put his support level on 14 percent.

The far-right leader of the right-wing group, which was not invited of the president's discussions with party leaders on Friday, remarked that the decision, by a president out of touch at the presidential palace, is a misstep.

They would quickly propose a vote of no confidence against a struggling administration, whose sole purpose was avoiding a vote, the leader stated.

Forming Coalitions

The prime minister at least knows the pitfalls ahead as he tries to form a government, because he has already spent two days this week talking to parties that might participate in his administration.

Alone, the central groups cannot form a government, and there are splits within the traditionalists who have assisted the ruling coalition since he failed to secure enough seats in recent polls.

So he will consider socialist factions for future alliances.

As a gesture to progressives, officials indicated the president was evaluating a pause to some aspects of his controversial retirement changes passed in 2023 which increased the pension age from 62 to 64.

That fell short of what socialist figures desired, as they were expecting he would choose a premier from their side. Olivier Faure of the Socialists commented “since we've not been given any guarantees, we won't give any guarantee” for the premier.

The Communist figure from the Communists commented post-consultation that the left wanted real change, and a premier from the central bloc would not be supported by the citizens.

Environmental party head the Green figure said she was “stunned” the president had provided few concessions to the progressives, adding that outcomes would be negative.