Emmanuel Macron has appointed Sébastien Lecornu as France’s new prime minister. Mr Lecornu takes over from his predecessor François Bayrou, who resigned from his post after losing a vote of confidence in parliament on Monday.
Mr Lecornu has now become the fifth prime minister in two years to be appointed by Mr Macron, and has been tasked with “consulting the political forces represented in Parliament to adopt a budget and build on the agreements essential for decisions in the coming months.” The handover between Mr Lercornu and Mr Bayrou will take place on Wednesday at noon in Paris, according to the team of the former prime minister. The new leader of the French Government will have to try and pass a new budget to tackle the country’s surging debt problems.
The budget deficit reached 5.8% of GDP last year, nearly double the EU ceiling of 3%. At the same time national debt now stands at more than €3.3 trillion (£2.8 trillion), roughly 114% of economic output.
Mr Bayrou had argued that drastic cuts were unavoidable and had put forward a plan to slash spending by €44 billion (£38bn) by 2026, partly by scrapping two public holidays.
He had warned that if nothing was done, debt interest would become the government’s largest expense by 2029, ballooning to €100 billion per year. The deficit is the result of nearly unlimited government spending by President Macron to shield the economy from pandemic lockdowns, as well as from the energy crisis unleashed in Europe after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The appointment of Mr Lecornu was heavily criticised by the leaders of France’s opposition parties.
Then hard-left’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon urged the President to resign, saying: “Only Macron’s departure can put an end to this sad comedy of contempt for Parliament, voters and political decency.”
Marine Le Pen – the co-chair of the far-right party National Rally – said: “The President is firing the last cartridge…bunkered down with his little group of loyalists.
“After the inevitable future snap elections, the Prime Minister will be called Jordan Bardella.” Mr Bardella is the 29-year-old president of the National Rally and an MEP.
Meanwhile, anti-government protesters are preparing to take to the streets on Wednesday, and are expected to cause wide disruption across the country. The demonstrations are being organised by a loose left-wing collective called “Block Everything”.
