【Epoch Times News, October 11, 2025】French President Emmanuel Macron reappointed Sebastien Lecornu as Prime Minister on Friday, October 10. This move comes after Lecornu’s resignation a few days ago, angering some of the President’s toughest political opponents, who have pledged to vote against the new cabinet in parliament.
At the age of 47, Macron hopes that Lecornu can garner enough support in the deeply divided parliament to pass the 2026 budget. Faced with France’s most serious political crisis in decades, many of Macron’s opponents are calling for his resignation or for a new parliamentary election.
The appointment of Lecornu as Prime Minister was met with harsh criticism from the far-right and far-left, indicating that his second term as Prime Minister won’t be any easier than the first. His first stint ended on Monday, just 27 days after taking office.
Leader of the National Rally party, Jordan Bardella, posted on X platform, “In the Élysée Palace, Macron is more isolated and out of touch with the people than ever before. His reappointment of the Lecornu government is a terrible joke, a democratic embarrassment, and an insult to the French people.”
However, National Assembly Speaker Yaël Braun-Pivet welcomed the decision, saying, “I note that Lecornu has been appointed as head of the Prime Minister’s residence. For weeks, the National Assembly has been working hard, preparing to fully exercise its functions: debating, deliberating, and voting. It’s time to get to work. It should have been done like this long ago!”
The leadership of the Socialist Party and the conservative Republicans did not immediately react, as the fate of the Lecornu government is crucial to these two parties.
The new Prime Minister’s most urgent task is to submit the budget proposal to the parliament before Monday.
“For the sake of duty, I accept the mission entrusted to me by the President of the Republic to provide France with a budget before the end of the year, and to address the daily life issues of our compatriots,” Lecornu wrote on X platform. “We must end this political crisis that has angered the French people, as well as the instability that is damaging France’s image and interests.”
Lecornu added that anyone joining his government must abandon their personal ambitions to succeed Macron in 2027. This power struggle has further unsettled France’s already fragile minority government and divided legislative body. He promised that his cabinet would “reflect renewal and diversity.”
Macron’s aides stated that Lecornu has been given “carte blanche,” indicating that the President has left plenty of room for negotiation to coordinate cabinet choices and the budget.
Earlier, Macron convened a meeting of mainstream party leaders to garner support for his appointments. However, left-wing parties expressed dissatisfaction upon learning that none of their camp was appointed as Prime Minister.
If the cabinet collapses again, it increases the likelihood of Macron calling for early elections, which is widely seen as favorable for the far-right.
The political turmoil in France has weakened economic growth, disrupted financial markets, largely stemming from Macron’s decision last year to call for parliamentary elections, resulting in a hung parliament where no party won an absolute majority of seats.
France is striving to straighten out its finances, which requires budget cuts or tax increases, but no party can reach a consensus on this, further exacerbating the situation.
If the National Assembly fails to reach a consensus on the budget within the deadline, emergency legislation may be necessary to maintain the country’s operations with a roll-over budget next year.
Francois Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, predicted on Friday that the current political uncertainty would reduce domestic GDP growth by 0.2 percentage points. He stated that business confidence had been impacted, but the overall economy remained healthy.
“Uncertainty… is the number one enemy of growth,” de Galhau said on RTL radio.
Difficult budget negotiations over the past 12 months have seen Macron lose three Prime Ministers.
The recent core of budget negotiations involved the left-wing’s desire to repeal Macron’s 2023 pension reform raising the retirement age and taxing the wealthy, demands that are difficult to reconcile with those of the conservatives, whose support Macron also needs to pass the budget.
In Friday’s meeting, Macron proposed to postpone the timeline for raising the retirement age to 64 until 2028. Green Party leader Marine Tondelier believes that this concession is still not enough.
France’s deficit this year is forecast to reach 5.4%, nearly double the EU’s upper limit. Lecornu recently stated that he expects the deficit in 2026 to be between 4.7% and 5%.
(This article referenced reports from Reuters)