Sebastien Lecornu officially took office on Wednesday as France\u2019s new prime minister, pledging to work \u201ccreatively\u201d with rivals to deliver a debt-cutting budget, even as tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated against President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s government across the country. Lecornu, previously defence minister and a close Macron ally, became the fifth prime minister of Macron\u2019s second term after Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou was ousted in a parliamentary vote over his deficit-reduction plans.
The immediate test for Lecornu will be navigating France\u2019s deeply divided parliament to pass a 2026 budget. France\u2019s deficit, the highest in the euro zone at 5.8% of GDP in 2024, has put heavy pressure on the government to slash spending. While all major parties agree on the need for fiscal restraint, sharp disagreements remain on how to achieve it. The far-right National Rally (RN) has expressed conditional willingness to cooperate if its priorities are addressed, while the left signaled resistance and threatened no-confidence motions unless their demands \u2014 including taxing the wealthy \u2014 are considered.
Lecornu\u2019s political balancing act is complicated by the fact that he has been viewed as one of Macron\u2019s ministers most open to dialogue with the RN, having met party leader Jordan Bardella previously. Bardella warned after Lecornu\u2019s appointment that the prime minister\u2019s position was \u201cvery precarious,\u201d saying the government must either embrace a real rupture in policy or face collapse. Meanwhile, the Socialist Party has left the door open to negotiations but made clear it will oppose the government if it dismisses their proposals.
Macron, who personally called Socialist leader Olivier Faure this week to rule out a left-wing prime minister, is under pressure to show he can maintain control after years of political volatility. Lecornu must present a draft budget to parliament by October 7, with a hard deadline of October 13, raising the stakes for the fragile government. Observers say the challenge will test Macron\u2019s ability to govern with a fractured legislature and dwindling support.
On the streets, public anger was visible as unions and activists staged nationwide \u201cBlock Everything\u201d protests. Authorities deployed 80,000 police officers as demonstrators denounced austerity plans and Macron\u2019s leadership, accusing him of ignoring ordinary citizens. \u201cWe\u2019re on the fifth prime minister under Macron\u2019s second term, and nothing ever changes,\u201d said Daniel Bretones, a union member protesting in Marseille. The combination of parliamentary gridlock and rising unrest signals turbulent months ahead for France\u2019s embattled leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sebastien Lecornu officially took office on Wednesday as France\u2019s new prime minister, pledging to work \u201ccreatively\u201d with rivals to deliver a debt-cutting budget, even as tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated against President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s government across the country. Lecornu, previously defence minister and a close Macron ally, became the fifth prime minister of Macron\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/images-2025-09-10T165338.518.jpeg?fit=780%2C366&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18420,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18419\/revisions\/18420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}