French president Emmanuel Macron has appointed defence minister Sebastien Lecornu as the country’s new prime minister and tasked him with immediately trying to get the nation’s fractious political parties to agree on a budget for one of the world’s biggest economies.
Mr Lecornu, 39, was the youngest defence minister in French history and architect of a major military build-up through 2030, spurred on by Russia’s war in Ukraine. A long-time Macron loyalist, Mr Lecornu is now France’s fourth prime minister in barely a year.
A former conservative who joined Mr Macron’s centrist movement in 2017, Mr Lecornu has held posts in local government, overseas territories and during Mr Macron’s yellow vest “great debate”, when he helped manage mass anger with dialogue. He also offered talks on autonomy during unrest in Guadeloupe in 2021.
His rise reflects Mr Macron’s instinct to reward loyalty, but also the need for continuity as repeated budget showdowns have toppled his predecessors and left France in drift.
Mr Macron’s quick decision to name Mr Lecornu comes ahead of a day of mass disruption planned on Wednesday by a protest movement called “Block Everything” that prompted the government to deploy an exceptional 80,000 police to keep order.
Politicians toppled Mr Lecornu’s predecessor Francois Bayrou and his government in a confidence vote on Monday, a new crisis for Europe’s second-largest economy.
Mr Bayrou gambled that politicians would back his view that France must slash public spending to rein in its huge debts. Instead, they seized on the vote to gang up against the 74-year-old centrist who was appointed by Mr Macron last December.
The demise of Mr Bayrou’s short-lived minority government heralds renewed uncertainty and a risk of prolonged legislative deadlock for France as it wrestles with pressing challenges, including budget difficulties and, internationally, wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the shifting priorities of US president Donald Trump.
Drafting a budget will be a top priority for Mr Lecornu, and normally a new prime minister would form a new government before negotiating the national spending in parliament. But Mr Macron has asked Mr Lecornu to consult with all of the political parties in parliament first to try to agree on a budget before assembling his team.
“The prime minister’s action will be guided by the defence of our independence and our power, serving the French and the political and institutional stability for the unity of our country,” Mr Macron said in a statement.
When the yellow vest movement against social injustice erupted, prompting months of sometimes violent demonstrations in the streets, Mr Lecornu was chosen by Mr Macron to lead the so-called “great debate” across the country aimed at appeasing tensions.
A minister of overseas territories from 2020 to 2022, Mr Lecornu faced virus-related rioting and strikes in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, offering to discuss some autonomy for the territory affected by long-running frustrations over inequality with the French mainland.
The 413 billion euros (£358 billion) defence spending package Mr Lecornu championed for 2024-2030 represents the most significant spending hike in France in half-a-century.
The money aimed to modernise France’s nuclear arsenal, augment intelligence spending and develop more remote-controlled weapons.
