PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron will name a new prime minister within the next 48 hours, his office said Wednesday.
The news of a potential new head of government comes after Macron tapped outgoing French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to chart a path forward by Wednesday evening following the government’s shocking resignation on Monday a mere 14 hours after being named.
Lecornu said in a primetime interview Wednesday after meeting with Macron that he believed a path forward “is still possible,” though he acknowledged it would be “difficult.” Lecornu did not explicitly say that a viable solution had been found to the crisis currently engulfing France.
Macron’s office said Lecornu had presented three conclusions: A majority of lawmakers are against holding snap elections; a “platform of stability” exists, although the Elysée did not elaborate on what that meant; and a path forward exists to adopt a budget before the end of the year.
In his interview, Lecornu said that a “narrow plurality” is ready to find common ground on a budget for 2026, which he previously said must significantly rein in a budget deficit projected to come in at 5.4 percent of gross domestic product this year. The PM had earlier Wednesday signaled the possibility of softening France’s deficit reduction to 5 percent of GDP from 4.7 percent, the figure Lecornu initially put forward.
What comes next is entirely up to Macron.
If he chooses not to dissolve the National Assembly, Macron will need to pick a new prime minister who will face the same challenge that doomed Lecornu’s two predecessors: passing a budget without a majority in parliament.
The president could opt for a center-left politician from the Socialist Party, who would then need to work with other left-wing lawmakers as well as centrists to form a majority.
But this would likely come at a cost for Macron, who would see some of his landmark policies — including a law that raised the minimum retirement age for most workers — come under attack from a left-wing government.
However, the Socialists emerged from a meeting with Lecornu on Wednesday with neither an agreement nor any assurances regarding their demand to revisit pension reform.
“It is one of the most obstructive, most difficult issues,” Lecornu said, adding that a debate on pension reform was inevitable and would resurface ahead of the 2027 presidential election if it wasn’t addressed earlier.
Momentum to suspend the reform, which remains unpopular, has grown in recent days. Former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne — who rammed the legislation through in the face of fierce opposition — said she was now in favor of suspending the law.
Macron himself has remained silent.
He is expected to speak Thursday when former Justice Minister Robert Badinter, who led the charge in France to eliminate the death penalty in 1981, is enshrined in the Pantheon, but it’s unlikely he will address the fact that he has cycled through three prime ministers in less than a year.
Meanwhile, calls for new elections continue to grow louder from the far right.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Wednesday that her party, the National Rally, would vote to topple any future PM named before new elections.
“The joke has gone on for long enough. No one’s laughing anymore,” said Le Pen’s protégé and party president, Jordan Bardella. “Macron is looking to win time. He’s trying to keep his camp in power at all cost.”
This story has been updated.
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