Macron names loyalist Sebastien Lecornu as France’s new prime minister
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The choice of Mr Sebastien Lecornu (pictured) shows French President Emmanuel Macron is determined to press on with a minority government that stands firmly behind his pro-business, economic reform agenda.
PHOTO: EPA
Follow topic:
- Macron appointed Sebastien Lecornu as PM, signalling commitment to his pro-business agenda despite potential alienation of centre-left parties.
- Lecornu's key task is forging consensus on the 2026 budget, addressing France's deficit, while avoiding tax increases on hard-working people.
- Macron risks appearing "tone-deaf" amid discontent, relying on support from Marine Le Pen's RN, despite Lecornu's conservative background.
AI generated
PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron named loyalist Sebastien Lecornu, a one-time conservative protege who rallied behind his 2017 presidential run, as prime minister on Sept 9, defying expectations that he might tack towards the left.
The choice of Mr Lecornu, 39, indicates Mr Macron’s determination to press on with a minority government that stands firmly behind his pro-business, economic reform agenda, under which taxes on business and the wealthy have been cut and the retirement age raised.
Mr Macron was forced to appoint a fifth prime minister in less than two years after Parliament ousted Mr Francois Bayrou
In handing the job to Mr Lecornu, Mr Macron risks alienating the centre-left Socialist Party and leaves the President and his government depending on Ms Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) for support in Parliament.
Mr Lecornu’s immediate priority will be to forge consensus on a budget for 2026, a task that proved the undoing of Mr Bayrou, who had pushed for aggressive spending cuts to rein in a deficit standing at nearly double the EU ceiling of 3 per cent of gross domestic product.
Budget in focus
The political upheaval this week lays bare deepening turmoil in France that is weakening the euro zone’s second-biggest economy as it sinks deeper into a debt quagmire.
Mr Lecornu’s nomination is not without peril for Mr Macron. He risks appearing tone-deaf at a time of simmering popular discontent and with polls showing that voters want change.
Nationwide “Block Everything” protests
Mr Lecornu most recently served as Mr Macron’s defence minister, overseeing an increase in defence spending and helping shape European thinking on security guarantees for Ukraine in the event a peace deal with Russia is brokered.
He entered politics at the age of 16, canvassing for former president Nicolas Sarkozy. He became mayor of a small town in Normandy when he turned 18, and then Mr Sarkozy’s youngest government adviser at the age of 22.
Mr Lecornu left the conservative Les Republicains party to join Mr Macron’s centrist political movement when the President was first elected in 2017. Five years later, he ran Mr Macron’s re-election campaign.
By naming a minister from his own camp with a conservative background, Mr Macron appears to have decided to preserve his economic legacy at all cost.
Socialists had pledged to reverse some of his flagship pro-business policies, including the scrapping of a wealth tax and a raised retirement age – planks the President considers essential to making France attractive to investors.
Mr Lecornu has at times had the ear of Ms Le Pen and her party chief, Mr Jordan Bardella, with whom Mr Lecornu had a secret dinner in 2024. RN officials have told Reuters that they could maintain some kind of tacit support for Mr Lecornu if he was named premier.
RN has said it will not tolerate tax increases on hard-working people. REUTERS
