Sébastien Lecornu is back as France’s Prime Minister for the second time in a single week, despite his first government lasting a mere 836 minutes. It’s unclear what makes his prospects any brighter this time around.
After protracted delays extending late into Friday evening, President Emmanuel Macron once again entrusted his close centrist ally, Mr. Lecornu, with forming a new government. This move widely signals Macron’s dwindling options.
Marine Tondelier, leader of the Green Party, voiced her concern after a meeting with Macron and other party heads: “One gets the feeling that the more isolated he becomes, the more stubbornly he clings to his original stance.”
France, a nuclear power and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, holds a strong self-image that clashes sharply with its recent ‘government-of-less-than-a-day’ debacle. This plunge into chaotic, almost farcical, political instability has caused widespread alarm. Even Macron’s principal adversary, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, seized the opportunity to denounce a “desperate, pathetic spectacle.”
The criticism wasn’t limited to Le Pen; a deluge of condemnations followed Macron’s controversial choice. Mr. Lecornu faces the daunting task of forming a government in a nation grappling with a severe institutional crisis, led by a president who, after over eight years in power, has never seemed so isolated or publicly scorned.
Jordan Bardella, the influential president of Ms. Le Pen’s anti-immigrant National Rally party, didn’t mince words, calling “Lecornu II” “a bad joke, a democratic ignominy, and a humiliation for the French people.” He advocates for Macron to dissolve the gridlocked Parliament and call new legislative elections, which could potentially see his party gain enough power to form a government.
President Macron’s repeated selections of prime ministers from his centrist or center-right circle this year – including Friday’s baffling reappointment of the same individual for the second time – have become increasingly perplexing. This has led exasperated former allies to demand he justify his stubbornness or step down.
Concerned that his economic initiatives, such as raising the retirement age or cutting corporate tax rates, might be overturned, Mr. Macron has steadfastly refused to engage with the center-left. This is despite the fact that a now fractured coalition of left and far-left parties secured the most seats in the 2024 legislative elections.
Instead, with fewer electoral mandates, he has sought to consolidate more power.
Such a stance is widely perceived as disrespecting the public’s will, a risky position for any French leader.
When Gabriel Attal, once Macron’s protege, recently stated, “I no longer understand the decisions of the president,” and attributed these choices to “a kind of furious pursuit of the maintenance of his power,” he echoed the widespread dismay felt by many French citizens.
Alain Duhamel, a respected author and political analyst, grimly observed, “We are precariously balancing between a political crisis and a crisis of the regime, where we either face an incredibly fragile government that could collapse any day, or parliamentary elections that would almost certainly usher in a victory for Ms. Le Pen.”
As president, Mr. Macron possesses specific powers, including the authority to select a prime minister and dissolve Parliament to trigger a legislative election. However, he lacks a majority in the National Assembly, the lower house, and no longer commands a loyal centrist party of his own. His ‘Macronism’ ideology, a blend of shifting concepts originally intended to bridge the left-right divide, has effectively crumbled.
In essence, with only 18 months remaining in his term-limited presidency, Mr. Macron finds himself significantly weakened, even if he still maintains considerable international influence.
A recent survey by Elabe, published in the business daily Les Echos, reveals a dramatic drop in Macron’s approval, now at just 14 percent of the electorate. This marks his lowest approval rating ever and one of the lowest for any French president.
Despite this plummeting popularity, Mr. Macron’s decisions indicate no willingness to make concessions or alter his approach, a point further underscored by his re-appointment of Mr. Lecornu. With the far-right National Rally and the far-left France Unbowed staunchly opposing him, and both the center-left Socialists and conservative Republicans expressing dissatisfaction with his choice, the longevity of any second Lecornu government remains highly uncertain.
Denis Baranger and Olivier Beaud, two professors of public law, emphasized in Le Monde on Friday that Mr. Macron “needs a parliamentary majority to support him.” They concluded, “Because he has not grasped this reality, Mr. Macron is now entirely isolated and has plunged the country into an unprecedented institutional deadlock.”
It appears that Mr. Macron’s insistence on appointing Bruno Le Maire, the former finance minister now under scrutiny for France’s soaring $4 trillion debt, as defense minister in Sébastien Lecornu’s brief first government, was the catalyst that caused its collapse in less than a day earlier this week.
Mr. Le Maire enjoys a close relationship with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a connection Mr. Macron deemed vital for integrating European military power amid ongoing conflict on the continent. However, this unexpected choice proved unacceptable to Bruno Retailleau, the right-wing interior minister, who felt blindsided and swiftly signaled the end of a government Mr. Lecornu had diligently spent nearly a month assembling.
This incident serves as yet another illustration of the recurring political fiascos plaguing France.
These events follow Mr. Macron’s still-unexplained decision to call parliamentary elections in June 2024, a move he was not obligated to make. Since then, the National Assembly has fractured into a three-way split: the nationalist far-right, the combined left and far-left, and a weakened center whose allegiance to Mr. Macron is visibly waning.
The current Parliament is undeniably dysfunctional, a fact firmly established. Yet, France desperately requires a budget to address its escalating deficit and national debt.
Theoretically, Mr. Lecornu is tasked with presenting the budget next week for approval by year-end. Given the present parliamentary stalemate, it’s hard to envision how he will secure its passage – or how his government could endure much longer even if he does.
Nevertheless, Mr. Macron is determined to avoid dissolving Parliament, fearing that it could lead to him concluding his presidency with Mr. Bardella as his prime minister.
For eight decades, since the close of World War II, France has proudly maintained a barrier against the far right returning to power, a commitment forged from the national shame and humiliation of the Vichy Government’s collaboration with the Nazis.
Ms. Tondelier, the Green Party leader, starkly warned, “This is not going to end well.”