French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday named defence minister Sebastien Lecornu as the new prime minister to replace Francois Bayrou and resolve a deepening political crisis as protests loom in the next days.
Macron has told Lecornu “to consult the political forces represented in parliament with a view to adopting a budget for the nation and making the agreements essential for the decisions of the coming months,” the Elysee announced.
Bayrou, who survived just nine months in office, submitted his resignation to Macron earlier on Tuesday after France’s parliament ousted the government.
On Monday, Bayrou suffered a crushing loss in a confidence vote he had himself called, plunging France into fresh uncertainty and leaving Macron with the task of finding the seventh premier of his mandate.
The French president has in the past been notoriously slow in “casting” a new prime minister. But this time he has taken less than a day given the risk of financial and political instability.
“Emmanuel Macron is now in the front line to find a solution to the political crisis,” said the Liberation daily.
France’s borrowing costs, a measure of investor confidence, on Tuesday surged slightly higher than those for Italy, long one of Europe’s debt laggards.
– ‘Vulnerable’ –
Bayrou had blindsided even his allies by calling a confidence vote to end a lengthy standoff over his austerity budget, which foresaw almost 44 billion euros ($52 billion) of cost savings to reduce France’s debt pile.
In the end, 364 deputies in the National Assembly voted that they had no confidence in the government, while just 194 gave it their confidence.
Bayrou was the sixth prime minister under Macron since his 2017 election, and the fifth since 2022.
His predecessor, Michel Barnier, was brought down by a no-confidence vote in December.
The crisis dates back to summer 2024 legislative elections that resulted in a hung parliament.
“Emmanuel Macron, a vulnerable president,” said the Le Monde daily.
Macron, who has been leading diplomatic efforts internationally to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, now faces one of the most critical domestic decisions of his presidency over who to appoint as premier.
Lecornu has been in his post more than three years, for most of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and is a staunch supporter of Kyiv. He is seen as a discreet but highly skilled operator who, crucially for Macron, himself harbours no ambition of becoming president.
– ‘Break with the politics’ –
Alongside political upheaval, France is also facing social tensions.
A left-wing collective named “Block Everything” is calling for a day of action on Wednesday and trade unions have urged workers to strike on September 18.
“We need a prime minister very rapidly” as there should not be a “power vacuum” ahead of the protests on Wednesday, said Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who is also leader of the main right-wing The Republicans Party.
The 2027 presidential election meanwhile remains wide open, with analysts predicting the French far right will have its best-ever chance of winning. Macron is forbidden from standing for a third term in 2027.
The hopes of three-time presidential candidate for the far-right National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen, depend on the outcome of an appeal hearing early next year over her conviction for a European Parliament fake jobs scam that disqualified her from standing for office.
She described Lecornu’s appointment as the “final shot of Macronism”.
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