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The French leader has requested Sébastien Lecornu to come back as French prime minister a mere four days after he left the post, causing a period of political upheaval and crisis.

The president declared towards the end of the week, hours after consulting with leading factions together at the official residence, except for the representatives of the extremist parties.

The decision to reinstate him was unexpected, as he stated on television recently that he was not seeking the position and his task was complete.

Doubts remain whether he will be able to form a government, but he will have to hit the ground running. The new prime minister faces a deadline on the start of the week to present the annual budget before lawmakers.

Governing Obstacles and Fiscal Demands

The presidency said the president had assigned him to build a cabinet, and his advisors suggested he had been given complete freedom to act.

Lecornu, who is one of Macron's closest allies, then published a long statement on X in which he accepted responsibly the mission entrusted to me by the president, to strive to provide France with a budget by the year's conclusion and respond to the common issues of our compatriots.

Ideological disagreements over how to bring down France's national debt and balance the books have resulted in the ouster of multiple premiers in the last year, so his task is daunting.

France's public debt recently was almost 114% of economic output (GDP) – the third highest in the currency union – and current shortfall is expected to amount to over five percent of GDP.

The premier stated that everyone must contribute the imperative of fixing France's public finances. Given the limited time before the end of Macron's presidency, he cautioned that those in the cabinet would have to delay their aspirations for higher office.

Leading Without Support

Compounding the challenge for Lecornu is that he will face a parliamentary test in a parliament where the president has is short of votes to support him. Macron's approval reached its lowest point this week, according to research that put his approval rating on just 14%.

The far-right leader of the far-right National Rally, which was left out of consultations with party leaders on the end of the week, remarked that the decision, by a president increasingly isolated at the official residence, is a “bad joke”.

His party would promptly introduce a challenge against a doomed coalition, whose sole purpose was avoiding a vote, the leader stated.

Seeking Support

Lecornu at least is aware of the challenges ahead as he tries to form a government, because he has already used time lately meeting with factions that might join his government.

Alone, the central groups cannot form a government, and there are splits within the traditionalists who have assisted the administration since he lacked support in elections last year.

So he will seek socialist factions for potential support.

To gain leftist support, the president's advisors suggested the president was thinking of postponing to part of his highly contentious pension reforms enacted last year which raised the retirement age from the early sixties.

That fell short of what left-wing leaders wanted, as they were expecting he would appoint a premier from the left. Olivier Faure of the leftist party commented lacking commitments, they would withhold backing in a vote of confidence.

The Communist figure from the left-wing party commented post-consultation that the left wanted real change, and a leader from the president's centrist camp would not be endorsed by the citizens.

Environmental party head the Green figure remarked she was surprised the president had offered the left almost nothing to the left, adding that outcomes would be negative.