Lecornu after Lecornu: at the end of a week of political psychodrama, France returns to square one. President Emmanuel Macron has once again appointed Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister, giving him “carte blanche” to form a new government.
“I accept – out of duty – the mission entrusted to me by the President of the Republic to do everything possible to provide France with a budget by the end of the year and to address the daily problems of our compatriots”, wrote Lecornu on
“I will do everything to succeed in this mission: we must put an end to this political crisis, which is exasperating the French people, and to this instability, which is harmful to the image of France and its interests.” This objective, however, warns the prime minister who resigned just last Monday and was reappointed five days later, “can only be achieved under certain conditions, drawing the necessary conclusions from the last few weeks.
All the issues raised during the consultations conducted in recent days will be open to parliamentary debate: deputies and senators will be able to assume their responsibilities and the debates will have to be continued to the end. The recovery of our public finances remains a priority for our future and our sovereignty: no one will be able to escape this necessity. All ambitions are legitimate and useful, but whoever joins the government must commit to freeing themselves from presidential ambitions for 2027. The new government team must embody renewal and diversity of skills.”
The man who submitted his resignation to the president less than a week ago therefore returns to Matignon, but the road is all uphill. «A democratic shame, a humiliation», thunders the president of the Rassemblement National, Jordan Bardella, announcing his no-confidence vote in the new government. No confidence also announced by France Insoumise which once again calls for Macron’s resignation. The Insoumis leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, speaks of a “ridiculous comedy”, while the Socialist spokesperson assures that there is “no non-censorship agreement” at the moment with the new prime minister in charge. The announcement from the Elysée arrived at the photo finish, at the end of the 48 hours that Macron himself had given himself to find a solution, and at the end of a day of frenetic consultations with the party leaders, made exceptions for Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National and Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise.
The more hours passed, the more the option of cohabitation with the left seemed to fade. Leaving the meeting with Macron, the ecologist leader, Marine Tondelier, said she was “stunned” by the outcome of the talks: “We leave the meeting without any answers about anything, except that the next prime minister will not be from our political camp”. “It will end very badly”, she continued, predicting a possible “dissolution” of the hemicycle at the Palais Bourbon. Same disappointment from the socialist secretary, Olivier Faure.
Therefore, the name of the centrist Jean-Louis Borloo, 74 years old, which has been circulating in the last few hours, has also disappeared, as he might have pleased the president of the Républicains, Bruno Retailleau, as he was “neither left-wing nor Macronian”. But, during the consultations, Retailleau reportedly told Macron that the “common bloc” in support of the presidential camp “died” on Sunday evening with the derailment of the first Lecornu government.