French President Emmanuel Macron will “appoint a new prime minister within 48 hours,” the Elysee Palace announced Wednesday evening, following the outgoing head of government's final consultations with various political forces in France to try to break the deadlock.
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Shortly before this, Sebastien Lecornu considered it possible to appoint a new head of government within 48 hours in order to avoid the dissolution of the National Assembly.
Mr Lecornu, whose surprise resignation on Monday just 14 hours after announcing his government plunged France into an unprecedented crisis, spoke on Wednesday evening after Emmanuel Macron entrusted him with the mission to lead a last chance of negotiations with political forces.
“I told the president of the republic that the prospects for dissolution are receding and that I think the situation allows the president to appoint a prime minister in the next 48 hours,” he told public broadcaster France 2.
Asked about the possibility that he himself would be sent back to Matignon, he said he was “not looking for work” and that his mission was “complete” on Wednesday evening. “I tried everything,” he said, introducing himself as a “soldier monk.”
He also considered that “now is not the time to change the president,” and some voices in the French political class are calling for the resignation of the head of state, including in his own camp. “This presidential institution (…) must be protected and preserved,” especially in light of international tensions, from the Gaza Strip to Ukraine, he insisted.
Regarding the controversial pension reform, the outgoing head of government did not announce its suspension, which is demanded by the left and categorically rejected by the right, but he did say that he supports a “debate” on a “reform” for which a “path” has yet to be found.
The presidential camp itself on this issue is torn between those who support coexistence with the left and those who refuse to question the legacy of Emmanuel Macron or fear an increase in the budget deficit.
The eurozone's second-largest economy has a debt of €3,400 billion (115.6% of GDP), with growth affected by a reluctance to invest.
The suspension of this symbolic reform of Emmanuel Macron's second five-year term, adopted with forceps in 2023, was publicly mentioned on Tuesday by Elisabeth Born, a figure in the Macron camp who herself carried out the reform when she was prime minister. A suspension could be considered “if it is a condition for the stability of the country,” she told the press on Tuesday.
Mr Lecornu estimates such a suspension, which much of the left has asked for, would cost “at least three billion euros” in 2027, although figures for its cost vary.
The outgoing head of government promised that the draft 2026 budget could be presented to the Council of Ministers on Monday, the deadline for it to be adopted by parliament by the end of the year, but it “will not be perfect” and will have to be discussed, confirming his refusal to use Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows the text to be adopted without a vote, to return control to parliament.
The specter of decay continues to linger in the background. This continues to be loudly demanded by the far-right National Rally party, which rejected an invitation to Matignon and is already planning early legislative elections.
“I will censor all governments until they are dissolved (…). The joke has gone on long enough,” insisted RN MP Marine Le Pen at the Livestock Summit in Cournon d'Auvergne (centre).
“The time has come to conclude negotiations and move on to elections,” added National Rally (RN) President Jordan Bardella.
Emmanuel Macron has made it clear through his inner circle that he will “take responsibility” if the negotiations that ended on Wednesday fail, raising the threat of a new dissolution of the Assembly, divided into three blocs without a clear majority (left, center and far right) since the first dissolution adopted by the head of state in June 2024.
