Paris (AFP) – France’s President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a new government on Sunday, after marathon talks to cobble together a cabinet and prevent the country from slipping deeper into a political crisis. The lineup, a mix of old and new faces, is Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s second attempt at bringing together a team to overcome months of deadlock and pass a much-needed austerity budget through a deeply divided parliament. “A mission-driven government has been appointed to provide France with a budget before the end of the year,” Lecornu wrote on X on Sunday.
The new team must present a 2026 draft budget before a Tuesday deadline, giving parliament the constitutionally required 70 days to scrutinise the plan before year’s end. But it faces a tough fight for its survival after the legislative chamber toppled Lecornu’s two predecessors over cost-cutting measures, and with many disgruntled at his reappointment. According to the cabinet lineup published by the president’s office, Jean-Noel Barrot remained as foreign minister. Outgoing labour minister Catherine Vautrin took on the defence portfolio. Roland Lescure, a Macron loyalist, is in charge of the economy, with next year’s budget as a top priority.
France has been mired in political crisis ever since Macron last year called snap polls, intending to consolidate his power but ending up instead with a hung parliament and gains for the far right. After being named prime minister in early September, Lecornu presented his first cabinet last Sunday, but resigned a day later after the lineup was criticised for not having enough new faces. Macron reinstated Lecornu late Friday, triggering outrage and vows from opponents to oust his cabinet at the first chance. Lecornu, a former defence minister and Macron loyalist who has described himself as a “warrior monk,” said last week the government should include technocrats but no one with any ambitions to run for president at the end of Macron’s term in 2027.
In the new cabinet announced Sunday, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez took over the interior ministry, replacing Bruno Retailleau, whose right-wing Republicans party said it would not be part of Lecornu’s government. Monique Barbut, the former France director of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), was to head the ministry of environmental transition. Gerald Darmanin, a hardliner who has pushed for high-security prisons, stayed on as justice minister. And Rachida Dati, a scandal-ridden culture minister who is set to stand trial on corruption charges next year, also retained her post.
The French president, who is facing the worst domestic crisis since the 2017 start of his presidency, has yet to address the public since Lecornu’s first government fell. He was scheduled to head to Egypt on Monday to support a Gaza ceasefire deal brokered by the United States—a trip that could delay the presentation of the draft budget. The premier has pledged to work with all mainstream political movements. However, he is under pressure from parties across the political spectrum, including the leftist Socialists, a swing group, who have threatened to topple his government unless he backs away from a 2023 pension reform that increased the retirement age from 62 to 64. The right-wing Republicans, once a key political ally, said this weekend they would only cooperate on a “bill-by-bill” basis. The far-right National Rally, the largest party in parliament with ambitions to win power in 2027, has vowed to vote out any new Lecornu government.
© 2024 AFP
