Sébastien Lecornu, France’s outgoing prime minister, expressed hope on Wednesday that the country could avoid snap parliamentary elections and claw itself out of its political quagmire by forming a government and passing a budget before the end of the year.
But the dizzying pace of French politics over the past week and major disagreements between France’s parties — especially over the fate of the country’s 2023 pension overhaul — made it unclear whether Mr. Lecornu’s cautious optimism was warranted.
“In any case, it is clear that we need to get out of this situation,” Mr. Lecornu said in a brief televised address, as he warned that reducing France’s debt was key for the country’s global credibility and its ability to borrow on financial markets.
Mr. Lecornu had resigned on Monday amid turmoil within his newly formed cabinet of centrists and conservatives and threats of being toppled by opposition lawmakers in the lower house of Parliament, where no party has a working majority.
President Emmanuel Macron then asked Mr. Lecornu, who remains in a caretaker capacity, to hold last-ditch talks with political forces to “stabilize” the country. Mr. Lecornu is expected to sit for a television interview and to present the conclusions of those talks to Mr. Macron later on Wednesday.
Mr. Lecornu’s departure immediately increased the pressure from parties on the left and far right who want Mr. Macron to call snap parliamentary elections or even to resign.
But Mr. Lecornu said on Wednesday morning that the parties he had met at that point — mostly on the right and center — had shown “willingness” to pass a budget by the end of the year, creating “momentum” that reduces the likelihood of snap elections.
That option is pushed most strenuously by the nationalist, anti-immigration National Rally party.
“I censor everything,” Marine Le Pen, the party’s longtime leader, told reporters on Wednesday, meaning she would oust any new prime minister appointed by Mr. Macron. “The joke has gone on long enough.”
France Unbowed, a far-left party that wants Mr. Macron to resign, has also threatened to vote against any prime minister that doesn’t align with its interests.
But France Unbowed and the National Rally do not control enough seats in the lower house to topple a prime minister.
That has left Mr. Lecornu in the delicate position of trying to placate Mr. Macron’s centrist coalition, France’s mainstream conservatives, and the moderate left all at the same time, in hopes of securing enough support — or, at the very least, nonaggression — for a budget deal.
A major point of disagreement is Mr. Macron’s 2023 pension overhaul, a cornerstone of his second term that raised the legal retirement age to 64 from 62. It remains widely unpopular.
Mr. Lecornu, a centrist ally of Mr. Macron, had previously ruled out suspending it, which was one of the moderate left’s main demands.
But on Tuesday, Élisabeth Borne, a former prime minister for Mr. Macron who was instrumental in designing and passing the overhaul, said in an interview with Le Parisien that it could be improved or even suspended, “if that is the condition for the country’s stability.”
She did not detail how exactly a suspension might work. Mr. Macron’s reform gradually raised the legal age when workers can start collecting a pension by three months every year until it reaches 64 in 2030.
“I think we shouldn’t make this pension reform a sacred cow,” she said.
That was a startling admission from Ms. Borne, who had defended the pension changes, at great political cost, as one of the main ways France could reduce its deficit. It was also a measure of how toxic Mr. Macron’s legacy has become — even for his closest allies.
Two other former prime ministers, Édouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal, distanced themselves spectacularly this week from Mr. Macron, whom many blame for the current impasse because the snap elections he called in 2024 led to the hung Parliament.
Mr. Philippe, who leads a centrist party allied with Mr. Macron’s, said that the president should organize early presidential elections. Mr. Attal, who is the head of Mr. Macron’s Renaissance party, said that “like many French people, I no longer understand” the president.
“The president has become a repellent, even within his own coalition,” said Benjamin Morel, a lecturer in public law at Panthéon-Assas University in Paris.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Lecornu was seriously considering suspending the 2023 pension overhaul.
He made no mention of it on Wednesday morning, and Socialist Party officials said after meeting with him that they had received no guarantees, either.
“We want solutions,” Olivier Faure, the head of the Socialist Party, told reporters after meeting with Mr. Lecornu. But if suspending the pension overhaul was just a “smoke screen,” that did not address their concerns, he said, “we obviously would not agree.”
Mr. Faure also warned that governing in a coalition with Mr. Macron’s party was “unimaginable.”
Ségolène Le Stradic contributed reporting.
Aurelien Breeden is a reporter for The Times in Paris, covering news from France.
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