Sébastien Lecornu tries again with a “purposeful” government between new faces and old guards. But the opposition is already preparing a no-confidence vote, and while Macron speaks of stability from Sharm el-Sheikh, France wakes up in the balance of political chaos
The Lecornu 2 government has taken shape in France: yesterday it reconfirmed some ministers and appointed new ones. With the high risk that the French executive is once again pressed for time, Macron from Egypt accuses his rivals.
The Lecornu bis executive
The French Prime Minister, reappointed by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, after having submitted his resignation a week ago, is trying again. He defined the new team as “a government of purpose”, that is, with the aim “of launching the financial package by the end of the year”. According to Lecornu it would be “a government of new faces coming out of civil society, with experienced personalities and young parliamentarians”. It’s a shame, however, that several ministers are of the “old” guard.
The new executive, which met this afternoon and will have to present the budget project by Wednesday, includes 11 ministers from Renaissance, 6 republicans from LR, 4 from the Democratic Movement, 3 from Horizons, 1 from Liot and 1 from the Union of Democrats and Independents, while there are 8 ministers who come from civil society.
Among the 34 ministers, Jean Noel Barrot for Foreign Affairs, Gerard Darmanin for Justice, Rachida Dati for Culture, Roland Lescure for Economy were reconfirmed. Catherine Vautrin was moved from Labor to Defense instead, and the former president of the railways, Jean-Pierre Farandou, took her place. The Republican Bruno Retailleau refused to be part of the new government and the prefect of Paris, Laurent Nuñez, took his place as Minister of the Interior. Other new entries include Monique Barbut at the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Eduard Geffray at Education and Vincent Jeanbrun at Urban Planning.
Reactions
The first piqued reactions arrived yesterday, with Mathilde Panot of France insoumise commenting: “Don’t discard the cartoons too soon, mistrust is coming.” And the secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure had written “No comment”. It seems that socialists, dissident centrists and ecologists will decide whether or not to support Lecornu after his general policy statement arriving tomorrow. Meanwhile today, both Rassemblement National and the Union of Democrats and France insoumise contributed to intensifying the case against the new executive.
Jordan Bardella, of Rassemblement National (Rn), declared on And the RN party, again on X, announced: «Marine Le Pen and Éric Ciotti presented a joint motion of no confidence this morning on behalf of the RN and UDR groups». And France Insoumise also presented a motion of no confidence. On the other hand, the socialist deputy, Philippe Brun, warned, speaking to Reuters, that there will be no no-confidence “if the prime minister undertakes to abandon article 49.3 and suspend the pension reform”.
Pension reform
In fact, the new government could immediately slide on the pension reform: the Socialist Party, which will hold the balance, is asking for the reform to be suspended in order to vote for confidence. An editorial in the newspaper confirms this Les Echos: if Lecornu meets the PS’s request “a form of political stability will be possible, even if precarious”. Otherwise, “if Sébastien Lecornu refuses to go as far as suspending or repealing the reform, his government will fall and Emmanuel Macron will most likely be forced to dissolve the National Assembly.”
Macron accuses his opponents
While in Egypt for the Gaza peace ceremony, Emmanuel Macron again refused to resign and accused political rivals of destabilizing the country. “I guarantee continuity and stability, and I will continue to do so,” he said. And refusing to take responsibility for the most serious political crisis, he continued to say: «The political forces that instigated the destabilization of Sébastien Lecornu are the only ones responsible for this chaos».
