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The French leader has requested his former prime minister to return as head of government only four days after he resigned, causing a week of intense uncertainty and crisis.

Macron stated on Friday evening, shortly after consulting with key political groups together at the Élysée Palace, except for the leaders of the extremist parties.

Lecornu's return was unexpected, as he declared on national TV just 48 hours prior that he was not seeking the position and his role had concluded.

It is not even certain whether he will be able to establish a ruling coalition, but he will have to hit the ground running. He faces a cut-off on the start of the week to present the annual budget before parliament.

Leadership Hurdles and Budgetary Strains

Officials said the president had “tasked [Lecornu] with forming a government”, and his advisors suggested he had been given full authority to proceed.

Lecornu, who is one of the president's key supporters, then published a detailed message on an online platform in which he consented to “out of duty” the task given to him by the president, to do everything to provide France with a budget by the year's conclusion and tackle the daily concerns of our fellow citizens.

Political divisions over how to reduce the country's public debt and cut the budget deficit have caused the resignation of two of the past three prime ministers in the past twelve months, so his task is immense.

Government liabilities earlier this year was almost 114% of national income – the number three in the currency union – and this year's budget deficit is projected to reach 5.4 percent of economic output.

Lecornu said that “no-one will be able to shirk” the necessity of fixing government accounts. Given the limited time before the end of Macron's presidency, he advised that anyone joining his government would have to put on hold their aspirations for higher office.

Leading Without Support

Compounding the challenge for Lecornu is that he will face a vote of confidence in a National Assembly where Macron has is short of votes to endorse his government. The president's popularity reached its lowest point in the latest survey, according to research that put his support level on just 14%.

Jordan Bardella of the far-right National Rally, which was excluded of consultations with faction heads on Friday, said that Lecornu's reappointment, by a president “more than ever isolated and disconnected” at the official residence, is a “bad joke”.

The National Rally would promptly introduce a motion of censure against a doomed coalition, whose main motivation was dreading polls, he continued.

Building Alliances

The prime minister at least knows the pitfalls he faces as he tries to build a coalition, because he has already spent two days lately consulting political groups that might support him.

Alone, the moderate factions lack a majority, and there are divisions within the traditionalists who have assisted Macron's governments since he lost his majority in elections last year.

So he will seek socialist factions for potential support.

As a gesture to progressives, officials hinted the president was thinking of postponing to some aspects of his highly contentious pension reforms passed in 2023 which raised the retirement age from 62 up to 64.

That fell short of what left-wing leaders wanted, as they were anticipating he would choose a prime minister from the left. The Socialist leader of the Socialists said without assurances, they would offer no support in a vote of confidence.

The Communist figure from the left-wing party stated following discussions that the progressive camp wanted substantive shifts, and a premier from the moderate faction would not be supported by the French people.

Environmental party head Marine Tondelier said she was “stunned” the president had offered the left almost nothing to the progressives, adding that “all of this is going to turn out very badly”.