Caretaker French PM Lecornu hopeful on budget, snap election becomes more remote
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
French outgoing Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is set to wrap up talks on Oct 8 with various parties and report back to President Emmanuel Macron.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
PARIS – Caretaker French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu struck a cautiously optimistic tone on Oct 8, saying a deal could potentially be reached on the country's budget by the end of 2025, making the risk of a snap election more remote.
Mr Lecornu’s remarks came as he was set to wrap up talks on Oct 8 with various parties and report back to President Emmanuel Macron on whether he has found a way to end France’s worst political crisis in decades.
“There is a willingness to have a budget for France before Dec 31 of this year,” Mr Lecornu told reporters after meetings on Oct 7 with conservatives and centre-right parties, and before meeting the Socialist Party.
“And this willingness creates momentum and convergence, obviously, which distances the prospects of dissolution (of Parliament),” he said.
Mr Lecornu added that he would meet Mr Macron later on Oct 8 as planned to discuss the results of his discussions.
Mr Macron has faced calls from the opposition to call snap parliamentary elections, or resign, to end the political crisis.
Mr Lecornu, France’s fifth prime minister in two years, tendered his and his government’s resignation on Oct 6, hours after it was announced on Oct 5, making it the shortest-lived administration in modern France.
That came after allies and foes alike had threatened to topple the new government, with Mr Lecornu saying that would make it impossible for him to do his job. REUTERS
