Macron to Name New French PM Within 48 Hours

AFP/APP
Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron will name a new prime minister within the next 48 hours, his office said on Wednesday, following the resignation of outgoing premier Sébastien Lecornu, which has plunged the country deeper into a political crisis.
Lecornu told French television earlier that he expected a new premier to be named — rather than early legislative elections being called or Macron resigning — in an effort to resolve the ongoing crisis.
Macron had on Monday given Lecornu until Wednesday evening to find a way out of months of deadlock over an austerity budget.
Lecornu resigned early Monday, less than a month into office, after forming a pro-Macron cabinet that angered both the right and the left.
“The president thanks Sébastien Lecornu for the work done over these last 48 hours,” the Elysée Palace said in a statement to AFP.
It added that Macron “will name a prime minister within 48 hours,” expressing confidence that “a path was possible” to reach agreement on a budget before the end of the year.
Macron now faces several options — reappointing Lecornu, naming an eighth premier of his troubled presidency, calling snap elections, or even resigning himself.
The political turmoil has become the worst crisis of Macron’s tenure since he assumed office in 2017, as close allies desert him and his isolation deepens.
Lecornu said he had informed Macron that the likelihood of snap elections had receded, since a majority in the lower house opposes dissolving parliament.
After former premier Édouard Philippe suggested that Macron himself should step down and call presidential elections, Lecornu insisted that the president must serve out his term until 2027.
“It is not the time to change the president,” he said. “Let’s not make the French believe that it’s the president who votes the budget.”
‘Mission Finished’
Hinting that a more technocratic government could follow, Lecornu said members of a new cabinet should not have political ambitions for the 2027 presidential race.
“The situation is already difficult enough. We need a team that decides to roll up its sleeves and solve the country’s problems until the presidential election,” he said.
He suggested that a “path” could be found to reopen debate on lowering the pension age — the most contentious reform of Macron’s term — but warned that any suspension would cost at least three billion euros ($3.5 billion) by 2027.
Education Minister Élisabeth Borne, who served as premier when the reform was forced through parliament without a vote, has called for its suspension.
Lecornu gave no indication of who the next premier might be but hinted that he himself would not be reappointed, while not ruling it out entirely.
“I tried everything… This evening my mission is finished,” said Lecornu, who previously served over three years as defence minister, describing himself as a “warrior monk.”
He added that a new budget could be presented to the cabinet on Monday, though it would “not be perfect” and would involve “lots to debate.”
Vote Against ‘Everything’
Whoever is appointed as premier will likely face the same challenges that brought down Lecornu and his predecessors Michel Barnier and François Bayrou, both toppled by parliament.
Since losing its majority in the 2022 elections and more seats in snap polls last year, Macron’s centrist alliance has governed in a de facto coalition with the right-wing Republicans.
Even this combination, however, remains a minority in parliament, leaving any new premier vulnerable to a vote of no confidence if the left unites with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.
Le Pen said Wednesday that her party would “vote against everything” proposed by any new government. Her anti-immigration movement now sees its best chance yet of winning power in the 2027 presidential elections, with Macron constitutionally barred from running again.
Crucial to any government’s survival could be the Socialist Party, which Macron has long sought to woo away from the broad left-wing alliance.
But Socialist leader Olivier Faure, after meeting Lecornu earlier Wednesday, said the outgoing premier had “given no assurance” that the pension reform would be suspended.